THAT  TEACHEST 

ANOTHER 
TEACHEST  THOU  NOT 
THYSELF  T'' 


»^^ 


UOS  i         CHU. 


HABIT 

AND  ITS  IMPORTANCE  IN  EDUCATION 


PEDAGOGICAL     PSYCHOLOGY 


TRANSLATED    FROM    THE    GERMAN    OF 
DR.  PAUL  RADESTOCK 


BY 

F.  A.  CASPARI 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 
BY 

G.   STANLEY  HALL,  PH.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY,  JOHNS   HOPKINS   UNIVERSITY 


BOSTON 

D.   C.    HEATH   &   CO.,   PUBLISHERS 
1894 

3SOo<b 


COPYRIGHT,  MARCH  n,  t8 
BY  F.  A.  CASPARI. 


TYPOGRAPHY  BY  PRESSWORK  BY 

J.  S.  GUSHING  &  Co.,  BERWICK  &  SMITH, 

BOSTON. 


3  F 
335 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I.  PAGB 

VALUE  AND  LIMITS  OF  EDUCATION i 

Force  and  value  of  habit 4 

Various  definitions  of  habit 8 

CHAPTER   II. 

RELATIONS  BETWEEN  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PHYSIOLOGY n 

Cause  and  effect  of  sensorial  impressions 12 

Various  ways  of  extending  sensations 20 

CHAPTER  III. 

RELATIONS  OF  CONCEPTIONS  TO  EACH  OTHER 24 

Positive  and  negative  or  intercepting  powers  of  nerves  ....  24 

Bond  uniting  mental  and  physical  functions 26 

"What  makes  the  beginner  a  master." 26 

"The  first  impression." 27 

Double  form  of  practice 27 

Analogy  between  psychological  forms  of  association  and  various 

forms  of  physiological  practice 27 

CHAPTER   IV. 

PROPERLY  ASSOCIATED  HABITS 29 

Definitions  of  habit  and  habitude 30 

Principle  of  associated  practice 31 

Repetition 31 

Habit  in  the  inorganic  world 32 


IV  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Results  of  habit 32 

Negative  and  positive  use  of  power 35 

Division  and  concentration  of  power 39 

^      Aim  of  human  education 39 

Object-lessons 39 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  INTELLECT 41 

Memory  and  imagination 41 

Process  of  logical  thinking 43 

Conception  series 44 

Laws  of  the  association  of  ideas 45 

Various  talents  resulting  from  a  combination  of  the  imagination 

and  the  intellectual  faculties 46 

CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  WILL 49 

Influence  of  habit  on  the  entire  psychological  life 50 

Value  of  associates  and  environment 51 

Habitude  of  personal  action 52 

Advantages  of  school  versus  home  education 56 

CHAPTER  VII. 

SPECIAL  HABITS  . 63 

Cleanliness 64 

Punctuality 64 

Neatness 64 

Endurance 65 

Self-control 65 

Obedience 66 

Politeness 68 

Attention " 70 

Diligence 72 

Unselfishness 73 

Calisthenics 76 

Study 77 


CONTENTS.                                           •  V 
CHAPTER   VIII. 

PAGE 

MORAL  HABITS 81 

Connection  between  intellect  and  emotion 82 

Lying 83 

CHAPTER   IX. 

EXTREME  HABITUATION 87 

111  effects  of  this  in  general 88 

Three  theories  concerning  the  emotions 90 

Necessity  of  change  in  instruction 91 

Punishments 92 

Higher  aesthetic  feelings 93 

Prejudice 95 

Pedantry 96 

Law  of  relativeness 97 

CHAPTER   X. 

HABIT  AND  FREE  WILL 101 

Genius 102 

Insanity 106 

APPENDIX. 

NOTE  i in 

NOTE  2 in 

NOTE  3 112 

NOTE  4 113 

NOTE  5 114 

NOTE  6 115 

NOTE  7 116 

NOTE  8 116 

NOTE  9 117 

NOTE  10 117 


INTRODUCTION. 


DR.  PAUL  RADESTOCK,  the  author  of  this  work,  already  favor- 
ably known  by  several  other  psychological  monographs,  has, 
in  scarcely  less  degree  than  Ribot  in  France  or  Sully  in  Eng- 
land, the  happy  faculty  of  absorbing  the  literature  of  a  large 
scientific  field  and  re-stating  it  in  lucid,  untechnical,  and  con- 
densed form.  He  has  read  widely  in  anthropology  and  morbid 
and  experimental  psychology,  and  in  this  work,  which  is  here 
translated  entire,  he  has  rendered  his  chief  service  to  educa- 
tion. 

He  assumes  that,  so  far  as  education  becomes  a  science,  or 
teaching  a  profession,  it  will  rest  more  entirely  upon  psy- 
chology. Education  he  regards  as  progressive  habituation, 
and  good  habits  as  even  more  important  than  good  principles. 
What  makes  the  novice  a  master  is  the  power  of  the  brain  to  lay 
up  earlier  stimuli  in  the  form  of  dispositions.  Habit  not  only 
lays  down  the  trunk  lines  of  association,  and  thus  gives  direction, 
but  it  furnishes  momentum  of  mind  and  will.  We  have  truly 
learned,  not  what  we  can  be  examined  on,  but  what  has  become 
second  nature  or  habit.  Memory  must  lapse  to  custom,  and 
sometimes  to  fixed  reflex  action  or  "  will-memory,"  before  the 
assimilation  of  instruction  is  complete.  The  stages  in  this 
process,  from  the  residual  trace  left  by  the  first  act,  which  is  the 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

germ  or  point  of  departure  for  habitude,  the  excitation  by 
"  organic  phosphorescence  "  or  memory  of  all  that  favors,  and 
the  suppression  of  all  colliding  or  diverting  acts  or  impressions, 
the  fusing  of  similars  widely  scattered  in  time  and  space  in  the 
sharpest  possible  focus  of  attention,  till  the  raw  material  of 
memory  is  summated  and  gradually  digested  into  faculty,  and 
at-oned  in  instinct  and  intuition,  —  this  is  the  story  of  these 
pages.  If  we  assume  with  Aristotle  that  the  process  of  habitu- 
ation  may  be  extremely  accelerated  by  right  methods,  or  re- 
tarded by  wrong  ones,  or  with  this  author  that  more  men  are 
made  not  only  bad  but  ignorant  by  education  or  habit  than  by 
nature,  the  practical  bearings  of  a  work  like  this  will  not  be 
underestimated. 

Habit  steadies  and  gives  strength.  Harmonious  ideas  are 
reenforced  and  discordant  ones  fade  out.  Character  is  slowly 
defined ;  tact  and  taste  take  the  place  of  memory  and  labored 
consciousness,  as  we  turn  over  to  our  automaton  what  express 
volition  had  to  do  before.  This  residuum  and  deposit  of  schools 
and  books,  and  even  of  experience,  is  the  measure  and  standard 
of  all  educational  values,  and  is  even  physically  transmissible 
to  succeeding  generations. 

Radestock  does  not  overlook  the  fact  that  extreme  habitua- 
tion  is  fraught  with  dangers.  It  may  diminish  the  many-sided- 
ness of  our  interests,  and  even  make  the  new  incomprehensible 
or  intolerable  to  us.  It  may  so  conventionalize  us  as  to  weaken 
the  will  and  enervate  the  feelings,  j  This  is  the  danger  Rousseau 
feared  in  urging  that  a  child  must  be  accustomed  to  nothing, 
not  even  to  the  predominant  use  of  the  right  hand,  or  to 
eating  and  sleeping  at  the  same  place  or  time,  etc.,  lest  the 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

sphere  of  liberty  should  be  interfered  with.  A  sudden  change 
of  environment  and  habits  has  often  proved  a  great  stimulus  to 
consciousness,  and  genius  often  manifests  what  I  have  elsewhere 
designated  as  nomophobia,  or  hatred  of  the  usual,  or  a  passion 
for  the  unwonted.  This  is  no  doubt  often  favorable  to  the  rapid 
new  combinations  of  thought  that  characterize  genius.  It  is, 
however,  exceptional  and  no  doubt  often  morbid,  and,  as  our 
author  well  observes,  even  genius  must  be  habituated  by  educa- 
tion, and  needs  teachers  who  are  not  geniuses. 

Dr.  Radestock  is  well  read  in  the  newer  English  psychologi- 
cal literature,  and  this  makes  his  thought  still  more  lucid  to  us. 
The  translator  and  the  publisher  of  this  little  book  merit  the 
thanks  of  those  American  teachers  who  are  interested  in  the 
psychological  basis  of  their  vocation. 

G.  STANLEY  HALL. 
BALTIMORE,  March  9,  1886. 


HABIT  IN  EDUCATION. 


HABIT 


ITS    IMPORTANCE    IN    EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER   I. 

VALUE   AND   LIMITS   OF   EDUCATION. 

FORCE   AND   VALUE    OF   HABIT.  —  VARIOUS    DEFINITIONS   OF 
HABIT. 

THE  greatest  variety  of  opinions  has  been  advanced,  with 
regard  to  the  value  and  limits  of  education.  Some  claim 
that  it  can  do  everything,  while  others  believe  that  it  can  do 
nothing,  and  that  the  difference  in  the  mental  capacity  of  men 
rests  only  on  the  endowments  conferred  upon  them  by  nature. 

The  true  mean  between  these  two  extremes  is  perhaps  best 
expressed  in  Lessing's  "  Education  of  Mankind  "  :  "  Education 
gives  man  nothing  which  he  could  not  have  developed  from 
within  himself.  It  gives  him  that  which  he  might  have  devel- 
oped from  within  himself  more  quickly  and  easily." 

"  Education  can  only  develop  and  form,  not  create.  It  can- 
not undertake  to  form  a  being  into  anything  other  than  it  was 
destined  to  be  by  the  endowments  it  originally  received  at  the 
hand  of  nature." 

"  Education  can  only  develop  and  unfold ;  it  cannot  create 
anything  new."  —  K.  Rosenkranz. 


2  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

Henry  Maudsley  writes  :  "  It  is  self-evident  that  education  is 
restricted  within  certain  limits ;  caused  on  the  one  hand  by  the 
species,  on  the  other  by  individual  organization.  But  man  can 
only,  in  the  former  case,  determine  what  is  predetermined  in  the 
organization  of  the  nervous  system  and  of  the  bodily  machinery 
in  connection  with  it ;  can  only  in  the  latter  case  make  actual 
the  potentialities  of  the  individual  nature,  and  not  every  youth- 
ful citizen  can  be  trained  to  become  a  Socrates  or  Shakespeare." 

Of  false  education,  it  is  true,  we  can  still  say  what  Resewitz 
remarked  a  century  since,  "  More  people  are  spoilt  by  a  false 
education  than  ever  inherited  their  corruption  as  a  sad  endow- 
ment from  nature." 

With  regard  to  the  different  degrees  of  ability  to  be  taught 
and  educated,  evinced  by  various  pupils,  Amos  Comenius  says, 
in  substance  :  "  Some  pupils  are  sharp,  others  dull ;  some  soft 
and  yielding,  others  hard  and  obstinate ;  some  are  naturally 
studious,  while  others  take  more  pleasure  in  manual  labor ; 
whence  we  may  speak  of  six  different  dispositions,  i.  There 
are  children  who  are  ingenious,  anxious  to  learn,  tractable,  and 
therefore  suited  above  all  for  students ;  these  require  only  an 
offer  of  food  for  wisdom ;  they  grow  like  rare  plants.  Care,  in 
fact,  is  needed  to  prevent  any  over-exertion  on  their  part,  which 
is  but  too  often  followed  by  weariness  and  disgust.  2.  Others 
are  penetrating  and  slow,  but  withal  tractable  ;  these  need  only 
to  be  spurred  on.  3.  There  are  children  who  are  penetrating 
and  studious,  but  stubborn  and  obstinate ;  they  are  generally 
hated  in  schools,  and  one  is  inclined  to  give  them  up  ;  yet  these 
generally  grow  to  be  the  greatest  men  if  they  are  correctly 
trained.  4.  There  are  obedient  and  studious  children  who  are, 
however,  slow  and  difficult  of  comprehension.  These  must 
follow  in  the  tracks  of  the  former ;  and  that  this  may  be  possi- 
ble, we  must  stoop  to  their  level,  we  must  not  place  too  heavy 
burdens  upon  them,  nor  judge  them  harshly,  but  must  bear  with 
them  willingly,  raise  them,  encourage  them,  cheer  them,  that 


VALUE    AND    LIMITS    OF    EDUCATION.  3 

they  may  take  heart.  They  may  reach  the  goal  later,  but  will 
endure  longer,  as  late  fruits  generally  do.  5.  Some  are  dull, 
troublesome,  and  lazy.  These  can  also  be  improved,  but  there 
must  be  no  obstinacy,  and  much  skill  and  patience  are  required. 
6.  There  are  dull  ones  who  are  by  nature  ill-willed,  wrong- 
headed,  and  generally  spoiled.  Even  here  we  should  not  lose 
hope  at  first.  If  it  is,  however,  impossible  to  improve  them, 
they  should  be  left  alone." 

Flattich  thinks  thatThe  human  mind  differs  in  quality,  like  the 
soil  found  in  farming,  i .  There  is  soil  good  on  the  surface  and 
bad  below ;  2.  that  bad  on  the  surface  and  good  below;  3.  that 
good  both  on  the  surface  and  below ;  4.  that  bad  both  on  the 
surface  and  deep  down  in  the  ground.  Minds  like  the  first  kind 
of  soil  learn  well  at  first  and  then  badly ;  these  are  fitted  for  a 
knowledge  of  languages,  history,  and  geography ;  those  of  the 
second  kind  are  suited  for  deep  and  heavy  thinking,  because 
they  learn  badly  at  first,  and  improve  after  a  while ;  those  of 
the  third  class  are  fit  for  anything ;  those  of  the  fourth,  for 
nothing. 

K.  Von  Raumer  says  :  "  Some  pupils  were  intelligent,  quick, 
and  vigorous  of  comprehension,  decisive  and  confident  in  an- 
swering ;  others  were  more  deliberate,  musing,  and  reflective, 
comprehending  more  slowly  and  answering  with  some  hesitation. 
Some  had  a  comparatively  equal  liking  for  all  studies,  while 
others  had  a  distinct  predilection  for  certain  subjects." 

Education  cannot  create  anything  new ;  it  can  only  develop 
and  unfold  the  already  existing  faculties  of  the  human  mind ; 
but  in  this  developing  and  unfolding  lies  its  greatest  value. 
To  those  who  think  little  of  it — perhaps  because  egotism  leads 
them  to  ascribe  to  their  own  powers  what  is  really  the  result  of 
the  good  influence  of  others,  while  they  make  education  and 
the  effect  of  evil  circumstances  responsible  for  all  their  evil 
traits  —  experience  will  plainly  show  what  great  difference  there 
is  between  a  man  who,  endowed  by  nature  with  happy  faculties, 


4  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

has  also  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  a  good  education,  and  one  who, 
through  want  of  sufficient  education,  has  not  been  able  to  de- 
velop his  faculties  and  employ  them  for  the  welfare  of  mankind. 
It  is  true  that  now  and  then  an  eminent  talent  will  succeed,  by 
ceaseless  energy  in  conquering  all  obstacles,  and  will  gain  by  its 
own  strength  the  height  to  which  others  did  not  assist  it  in 
mounting ;  but  then  it  only  reaches  the  goal  with  far  greater 
struggles  and  after  much  longer  time  than  if  its  aspirations  had 
been  aided  from  earliest  youth  by  a  careful  education.  For  this 
it  is  that  awakens  the  slumbering  powers,  incites  them  to  a  more 
rapid  development,  and  finally  brings  them  to  full  fruition.  It 
gives  man  "  what  he  could  develop  from  within  himself  more 
quickly  and  more  easily." 

This  great  end,  however,  is  best  reached  by  the  aid  of  one  of 
Education's  trusty  servants, — the  formation  of  habit,  which 
changes  functions,  of  whatever  kind,  originally  performed  but 
slowly  and  with  effort,  into  rapid  and  skilful  actions,  performed 
with  dexterity  and  ease ;  it  makes  study  easier,  and  finally  builds 
the  bridge  uniting  theory  with  practice  by  changing  dead  knowl- 
edge into  a  living  power.  Mankind  is  well  aware  of  the  power 
of  practice  and  habit,  as  is  shown  by  numerous  proverbs.  In 
literature,  finally,  we  shall  find  the  importance  of  the  formation 
of  habits  insisted  upon,  not  alone  by  ancient  and  modern  peda- 
gogues, but  by  most  other  learned  men  and  sages. 

I.  Locke  says:  "As  the  years  advance,  they  bring  greater 
freedom  from  restraint,  and  the  boy  must  often  be  left  to  his 
own  guidance,  because  no  mentor  can  be  ever  at  his  side  except 
the  one  created  in  his  own  mind  by  sound  principles  and  steady 
habits.  It  is  true  this  is  the  best  and  safest  one,  and  therefore 
worthy  of  the  highest  consideration ;  for  we  must  expect  noth- 
ing from  precautionary  maxims  and  good  precepts,  though  they 
be  deeply  impressed  on  the  mind,  beyond  the  point  at  which 
practice  has  changed  them  to  firm  habits."  Children  are  not  to 
be  taught  by  maxims,  which  continually  slip  from  their  memory. 


VALUE    AND    LIMITS    OF    EDUCATION.  5 

Whatever  we  believe  they  must  imperatively  do,  we  should 
strengthen  them  in  doing  by  unwearied  practice,  whenever  the 
opportunity  offers,  and,  if  possible,  create  opportunities  there- 
for. 

Rousseau  o'pposes  in  his  "  Emile  "  the  saying,  "  Nature  is 
nothing  but  the  formation  of  habits."  There  are  many  habits 
which  are  contrary  to  nature ;  these,  however,  can  exist  only  so 
long  as  the  controlling  force  lasts;  this  ceasing,  they  vanish 
before  nature  breaking  forth  with  renewed  power  (naturam 
expellas  furca  tamen  usque  recurret) ;  yet  he  finally  arrives  at 
the  conclusion,  "  Education  is  certainly  nothing  but  a  forma- 
tion of  habits." 

Even  before  rules  and  maxims  are  recognized,  and  afterwards 
simultaneously  with  these  the  mind  of  the  child  can  be  turned 
by  force  of  habit  in  the  direction  which  its  character  will  after- 
wards assume. 

He  who  early  teaches  children  to  bear  what  they  will  have  to 

•  undergo  in  afterlife,  who  lets  those  rules,  which  are  in  future 

to  guide  their  actions,  guide  them  now,  and  who  finally  has  them 

repeat  these  so  often  and  so  long  that  they  no  longer  err,  has 

accomplished  not  a  little. 

Niemeyer  thinks  that :  "  The  familiarizing  of  young  people, 
even  from  their  earliest  years,  with  habits  of  order,  cleanliness, 
decency,  and  politeness,  will  not  be  without  lasting  effect  on 
their  inner  life.  Children  take  their  first  steps -towards  civiliza- 
tion in  these  matters.  The  love  for  regularity  is  thus  formed. 
Evil  habits  are  forgotten  by  disuse.  The  more  rarely  evil  traits 
have  an  opportunity  of  appearing,  the  more  the  causes  arc  re- 
moved by  which  they  are  excited,  the  more  they  will  lose  in 
strength,  as  physical  powers  relax  when  not  exercised." 

"A  child  is  accustomed  to  an  action  by  giving  it  the  oppor- 
tunity to  practise  this  one  especially,  and  by  removing  any  op- 
portunities for  other  actions  colliding  with  it ;  thirdly,  by  height- 
ening the  pleasure  in  the  action  by  a  union  of  pleasant  impres- 


6  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

sions  with  the  deed,  and  on  the  other  hand,  making  the  conflict- 
ing habits  unpleasant  by  uniting  them  with  pain.  Habit  almost 
invariably  goes  farther  than  precept,  and  the  teacher  must  as' 
cribe  most  of  his  successes  to  the  formation  of  habits.  For  the 
power  of  insight  generally  covers  a  single  case  only,  while  that 
of  habit  reaches  through  a  whole  life."  — J.  G.  Curtman. 

Among  those  habits  which  the  spirit  of  the  present  time  ren- 
ders more  difficult  of  acquisition  are  those  of  temperance,  plain- 
ness, modesty,  and  unselfishness.  Others  are  made  easier  by 
custom,  as  habits  of  cleanliness,  decency,  etc.  Curtman  par- 
ticularly marks  :  i .  The  formation  of  habits  of  order.  The 
acquisition  of  regular  habits  in  the  use  of  time  is  of  almost 
greater  importance  than  a  regularity  with  regard  to  place  ;  above 
all  else  in  importance  is  the  restriction  of  sleep  to  a  certain 
quantity  of  time.  2.  Habits  of  attention.  3.  Habits  of  obedi- 
ence. 4.  Breaking  up  of  evil  habits. 

Deinhardt  says  of  the  various  methods  by  which  habits  are 
acquired :  "  (a)  From  its  earliest  infancy,  the  child  must  be 
habituated  to  ways  of  cleanliness  and  order.  (£)  As  soon  as 
the  will  begins  to  form,  the  habit  of  obedience  must  be  incul- 
cated, (c)  The  correct  use  of  the  mother-tongue  must  be 
practised  until  it  becomes  a  habit.  In  school  the  habits  of  at- 
tention and  industry  should  be  taught,  while  scientific  education 
leads  to  habits  of  thinking  and  speaking."  "  Clearness  and  dis- 
tinctness, perspicuity  and  precision,  regularity  and  consistency  " 
in  all  mental  operations  are  necessary  habits  in  sound  thinking. 
Indeed,  scientific  education  is  only  worth  anything,  and  of  vital 
importance,  when  its  actions,  powers,  and  means  have  become 
firm  and  steady  habits.  The  formation  of  habits  is  of  the  ut- 
most importance,  not  in  educating  the  intelligence  alone,  but 
its  value  with  regard  to  the  moral  actions  is  even  greater  still. 
He  is  not  honest  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word  who  must 
still  be  on  his 'guard  that  he  may  not  cheat  his  fellow-men,  nor 
covet  their  goods ;  but  he  with  whom  honesty  has  become  a 


VALUE    AND    LIMITS    OF    EDUCATION.  J 

favorite  habit  which  rules  his  inmost  sensibilities  and  aspirations 
so  that  no  power  from  without  can  turn  him  away  from  it,  is 
honest  indeed. 

"  Greater  strength  and  ease  in  the  combination  and  associa- 
tion of  ideas,  like  dexterity  and  skill  in  the  movement  of  the 
muscles,  is  most  easily  and  surely  acquired  by  repetition.  The 
more  manifold  and  varied  these  repetitions  are,  instead  of  con- 
tinually going  over  the  same  beaten  track,  the  more  unre- 
stricted and  unconstrained  will  be  the  acquired  skill ;  for  which 
reason  we  cannot  enough  recommend  repetition  of  what  has 
gone  before,  from  a  different  point  of  view,  and  under  other 
conditions,  especially  in  all  mental  studies."  —  Dr.  Eisenlohr. 

Theo.  Fechner  in  his  "  School  of  Esthetics  "  points  to  the 
psychological  value  of  habits  and  practice  :  What  was  objected 
to  at  first  will  often  after  several  repetitions  of  the  impression 
be  endured,  yea,  received  with  decided  pleasure,  and  its  loss 
be  sadly  felt.  This  is  a  sort  of  adaptation  of  our  inner  organ- 
ism to  an  attraction  which  is  gradually  called  forth  by  the  effect 
of  the  attraction  itself.  By  practice  many  a  one  will  lose  his 
predilection  for  what  is  coarse,  and  in  its  stead  train  a  feeling 
of  refinement. 

Dr.  Kussmaul,  in  his  "  Corruption  of  Languages,"  speaks  of 
the  value  of  the  formation  of  habits  as  regards  language.  Com- 
parative philology  offers  many  instances  of  the  importance  of 
practice  and  habit.  There  are  entire  nations  or  separate  parts 
of  one  nation  to  whom  the  pronunciation  of  r  or  /,  h  or  ch,  the 
dental  ///,  the  diphthongs  or  any  other  letter  causes  great  diffi- 
culty, although  they  have  not  lost  the  organs  used  in  articulat- 
ing them.  The  association  of  conceptions  with  ideas,  and  their 
union  with  feelings  and  aspirations,  is  as  much  under  the  con- 
trol of  education  and  habit  as  the  co-ordination  of  the  articu- 
latory  central  stations."  Most  human  actions  are  acquired  by 
practice.  "  The  aim  of  all  human  education  is  the  control  of 
all  inborn  and  acquired  reflections  by  rational  and  sensible 
motives." 


8  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

We  also  find  many  proverbs  about  the  force  and  value  of 
habit.  In  "  Practiced  in  youth,  accomplished  in  age,"  there  is 
a  distinct  incentive  to  the  early  formation  of  habits.  "  Every 
drop  hollows  the  stone"  and  "Practice  makes  perfect,"  proclaim 
that  repeated  attempts  will  conquer  all  obstacles  and  finally 
lead  to  the  goal.  By  habit  many  things  grow  to  be  part  of  our- 
selves (in  succum  et  sanguinum)  and  become  second  nature. 
The  power  of  good  as  well  as  evil  habits  is  shown  in  "  A  hook 
will  early  begin  to  bend,"  while  for  unnatural  and  forced  habits 
the  old  word  still  holds  good,  "  Naturam  expellas  furca  tamen 
usque  recurret." 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  definitions  of  the  word  "  habit " 
given  by  some  pedagogues,  and  differing  only  in  the  degree  of 
their  inadequacy.  Curtman  says  :  "  The  formation  of  habit 
is  the  change  of  an  outer  or  inner  action  into  a  propensity. 
The  organic  powers  grow  through  practice.  Their  actions  in 
this  way  become  easier,  skill  is  formed  and  habit  also,  in  so  far 
as  an  inclination  to  repeat  the  action  frequently  is  connected 
therewith.  The  action  by  the  performance  of  which  a  habit  is 
created  is  called  habituation."  Now  it  is  true,  that  every  labor 
which  is  not  too  great  is  accompanied  by  a  pleasant  feeling ; 
and  the  accumulation  of  like  feelings  in  succeeding,  which  fol- 
low the  practice  of  the  same  occupation,  may  cause  a  propen- 
sity for  that  occupation ;  but,  as  Campe  remarks,  the  ideas 
"  propensity  "  and  skill  should  be  carefully  kept  apart  although 
they  are  often  mistaken  for  each  other ;  as  there  is  often  great 
skill  without  any  perceptible  propensity,  and  strong  propensity 
without  any  noticeable  skill.  "The  galley  slave  has  skill  in 
rowing,  but  hardly  the  slightest  propensity  for  this  tiresome 
labor,  and  the  young  student  of  the  piano  often  has  an  inclina- 
tion to  play  although  he  may  not  have  gained  any  skill  therein," 
In  the  latter  case  it  is  true,  continued  practice  will  increase  the 
inclination  and  interest,  but  not  so  much  where  enforced  habits 
oppose  natural  talents.  Even  here  much  is  often  gladly  done 


VALUE    AND    LIMITS    OF    EDUCATION.  Q 

that  was  formerly  undertaken  only  with  disgust,  for  one  must 
truly  "  grow  warm  "  over  some  work,  and  enjoy  the  pleasure  it 
affords,  to  overcome  the  original  aversion.  This  is,  however, 
not  always  the  case ;  on  the  contrary,  the  original  aversion  is 
often  heightened,  especially  when  the  consciousness  of  com- 
pulsion, the  feeling  of  aversion  connected  with  that  conscious- 
ness, and  the  contrasted  conception  of  actual  individual  talent, 
unite  to  keep  down  the  sense  of  pleasure  which  usually  ac- 
companies all  work,  and  to  create  repugnance  and  disgust. 
Rochester  writes  :  "  The  pleasure  man  takes  in  labor  is  espe- 
cially dependent  on  the  extent  and  the  security  in  which  he 
hopes  himself  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  industry,  for  which 
reason  the  slave  and  the  gavelman  work  with  the  greatest 
antipathy." 

Propensity  is  not  a  general  and  necessary  result  of  habit ;  it 
cannot  therefore  be  used  in  the  above  way  as  a  definition. 

Deinhardt  defines  habit  as  follows  :  "  Habit,  they  say,  is  the 
second  nature,  and  herein  the  idea  of  habit  is  so  clearly  and 
precisely  expressed  that  the  greatest  philosopher  could  not 
express  it  better.  He  means  by  nature  in  general,  a  being 
founded  in  itself,  the  appearance  and  actions  of  which  neces- 
sarily proceed  from  its  inherent  laws.  The  second  nature  is 
to  him,  however,  the  mental  that  is,  the  intellectual  and  moral 
life,  which  every  man  is  called  upon  to  form  and  develop  from 
within  himself  in  the  short  space  of  mortal  life  apportioned  to 
him."  The  proverb,  however,  says,  Habit  becomes  second 
nature,  that  is,  it  kts  many  functions  become  second  nature. 
If,  as  Deinhardt  thinks,  "  Every  form  which  the  mental  being  of 
man  takes  upon  itself  in  the  process  of  growth  is  a  true  one, 
corresponding  to  the  nature  of  man,  only  when  it  has  the  same 
precision,  firmness,  and  infallibility  as  the  form  of  a  mere 
natural  organism,"  habit,  it  is  true,  can  aid  the  intellectual  and 
moral  life  in  acquiring  this  firmness ;  if  carried  to  an  extreme, 
however,  it  will  only  harm,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  the 


IO  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

self-consciousness  and  spontaneity  which,  according  to  Dein- 
hardt,  are  the  essential  characteristics  of  this  "  second  nature." 
Habit  itself  is  not  this  second  nature,  as  it  is  found  not  only 
in  mankind,  but  also  in  beings  of  a  lower  order,  where  there 
can  be  no  question  of  self-consciousness  and  self-determination, 
so  that  these  ideas  should  not  at  all  enter  into  the  definition. 

The  same  may  be  answered  when  Rosenkranz  defines  habit 
as  "  the  identity  of  consciousness  with  the  particularity  of  an 
action  or  suffering."  Dumont  refutes  the  opinion  of  several 
authors,  especially  physiologists,  who  look  upon  habits  as 
"  unconscious  and  involuntary  actions  in  contrast  to  conscious 
and  voluntary  ones,"  as  many  habitual  processes  are  con- 
sciously performed,  while  others  not  habitual  (somnambulism) 
are  less  conscious  and  voluntary. 

Murphy  explains  habit  as  a  tendency  of  certain  actions  to 
repeat  themselves,  or,  at  least  by  repetition  to  gain  greater  ease 
of  action,  to  which  Dumont  remarks  that  the  tendency  may  be 
explained  by  the  habit,  but  not  the  latter  by  the  former ;  the 
tendency  ("la  tendance  ou  le  penchant")  is  composed  of 
habit  and  a  surplus  of  available  power. 


PSYCHOLOGY   AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  II 


CHAPTER   II. 

RELATION     BETWEEN     PSYCHOLOGY     AND 
PHYSIOLOGY. 

CAUSE    AND    EFFECT    OF  SENSORIAL   IMPRESSIONS. — :  VARIOUS   WAYS 
OF  EXTENDING  SENSATIONS. 

IF  we  study  some  of  these  explanations  and  definitions  more 
closely,  we  shall  recognize  that  it  would  be  of  great  value  here, 
if  we  changed  Psychology,  the  basis  of  Pedagogy,  into  Physio- 
logical Psychology,  which  in  the  well-founded  view  that  every 
mental  process  is  connected  with  a  physical  one  in  the  brain 
and  nervous  system,  keeps  this  physical  process  as  far  as  possi- 
ble in  view  in  discussing  and  investigating  the  separate  psychi- 
cal functions.  In  doing  this,  we  need  not  at  all  embrace  the 
materialistic  view  which  looks  upon  these  physical  processes  as 
"  the  only  things  in  actual  existence,"  and  upon  thought  as  a 
"  secretion  of  the  brain,"  for  every  clear  and  calm  considera- 
tion will  recognize  the  shallowness  of  such  views. 

Cabanis  claims  that  the  brain  produces  the  "secretion  of 
thoughts,"  and  his  editor  justly  remarks,  "  This  phrase  remains 
celebrated,"  for  several  materialists  have  again  and  again 
attempted  to  establish  its  currency,  while  L.  Biichner  in  his 
widely-read  "  Kraft  und  Stoff,"  characterizes  thought  as  the 
powerful  action  of  the  machinery  of  human  organs,  and  com- 
pares it  to  the  effect  caused  by  the  steam-engine.  But  this 
view  is  as  fallacious  as  the  last,  as  it  contradicts  the  law  of  the 
preservation  of  forces  reigning  in  material  nature. 

Wundt  says  of  materialism  :  "  It  does  not  recognize  that 
inner  experience  has  the  priority  of  all  outer  knowledge,  that 


12  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

the  objects  of  the  outer  world  are  ideas  which  were  developed 
within  us,  according  to  psychological  laws,  and  that,  above  all, 
the  conception  of  matter  is  an  entirely  hypothetical  idea  upon 
which  we  base  the  phenomena  of  the  physical  world  in  order 
to  understand  their  changing  forms  and  play." 

Neither  should  we  permit  ourselves  to  take  a  psychical 
action  for  granted  without  any  physical  basis  in  those  few 
provinces  which  have  been  so  far  inaccessible  to  the  somatic 
(physiologic-psychological)  methods.  Accurate  investigation 
has  proven  that  much  which  was  formerly  deemed  a  purely 
psychical  peculiarity  is  based  upon  certain  physical  attributes 
and  processes,  and  is  made  clearer  by  their  investigation. 
(See  Note  i.) 

Bain  says :  "  There  are  two  widely  different  natural  phe- 
nomena, one,  consciousness  or  mind;  the  other,  matter  or 
material  order :  both  are  intimately  connected.  We  must  study 
the  being  of  each  in  its  own  manner  to  recognize  the  general 
laws  of  their  union,  and  to  follow  them  to  the  explanation  of 
separate  facts.  The  mind  is  destined  to  be  a  double  study,  to 
unite  the  philosopher  with  the  naturalist." 

We  shall  therefore  adopt  this  "  somatic  "  method  here,  and 
in  investigating  the  nature  and  value  of  the  formation  of  habit, 
and  of  habit  itself,  glance  first  at  the  physical  processes  on 
which  it  depends. 

The  external  cause  of  sensorial  impressions  is  the  movable 
and  vibratile  condition  of  matter  which  directly  or  indirectly 
acts  on  the  ends  of  the  sensory  nerves,  and  here  causes  an 
impression  which  is  carried  by  the  nerves  to  the  brain.  (See 
Note  2.)  The  quality  of  the  impression  depends  upon  the 
manner  of  the  vibrations,  while  its  intensity  is  determined  by 
their  strength, 

It  is  a  well-known  phenomenon  that  the  irritation  of  the  cell 
membrane  surrounding  the  nerves  of  our  organ  of  sight  con- 
tinues after  the  sensation  caused  by  the  actual  impression  has 


PSYCHOLOGY    A.ND    PHYSIOLOGY.  13 

passed  away  (lightning).  (See  Note  3.)  The  sensations  of 
sound  are  likewise  often  continued  after  the  immediate  influ- 
ence of  the  impression  is  over :  the  same  seems  to  be  the  case 
with  taste  and  odor  impressions. 

The  after-effect  of  impressions  in  the  spinal  cord  is  stronger 
even  than  in  the  peripheral  ends  of  the  nerves. 

Besides  the  special  or  particular  sensory  impression  of  the 
organs  of  sight,  sound,  smell,  and  taste,  four  kinds  of  motion 
under  the  proper  circumstances  will  cause  impressions  on  every 
sensory  organ,  i.  Mechanical  pressure  or  shock;  2.  electri- 
city; 3.  heat  vibrations ;  4.  chemical  actions.  Each  of  these 
processes  must  have  a  certain  intensity  and  velocity  to  become 
noticeable  as  a  sensation.  Among  the  manifold  forms  of 
motion  in  nature,  only  a  few  are  capable  of  acting  upon  our 
sensory  organs.  The  impressions  of  every  sense  form  a  regu- 
lar series,  and  thereby  produce  the  required  condition  for  the 
similarity  of  impressions.  There  are,  however,  in  general  no 
regular  connecting  links  between  the  impressions  of  the  various 
senses,  and  there  remain  intermediate  forms  of  vibrations  by 
which  our  sensory  organs  are  not  touched.  —  Wundt. 

Such  forms  of  vibration  as  do  not  touch  our  senses  lie  be- 
tween those  which  impress  us  as  sound  and  those  we  feel  as 
heat.  (See  Note  4.) 

Our  senses  are  only  impressed  by  such  modes  of  motion  in 
nature  as  correspond  to  arrangements  in  any  one  of  the  sensory 
organs  permitting  a  transmission  of  motion,  a  change  of  the 
physical  into  a  physiological  sensation.  The  ear  will  not  per- 
ceive such  sound  waves  as  sound,  and  the  eye  such  rays  as 
light,  the  vibratory  velocity  of  which  exceeds  a  certain  limit  or 
descends  below  a  fixed  point. 

Now  it  is  well  known  that  there  are  individuals  who  in  con- 
sequence of  the  disposition  and  development  of  their  sensory 
organs  possess  greater  powers  of  discrimination  in  these  de- 
partments than  others,  so  that  they  can  perceive  tones,  colors, 


14  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

odor,  or  taste  impressions  as  distinct  and  separate  from  each 
other,  which  others  can  no  longer  distinguish.  They  therefore 
perceive  certain  vibratory  motions  as  distinct,  which  others  are 
not  able  to  distinguish  from  those  near  by.  Further,  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  there  may  be  organisms  in  which  the 
dispositions  belonging  to  man  for  taste  arid  smell  sensations, 
may  have  reached  an  actual  development  just  as  there  may 
be,  on  the  other  hand,  organisms  existing  which  lack  the 
capability  that  man  has  of  receiving  sound  and  light  impres- 
sions, though  they  may  be  able  to  distinguish  a  few  kinds  of 
sound  and  light.  (See  Note  5.) 

If,  then,  we  must  acknowledge  that  there  are  beings  which,  in 
consequence  of  the  special  structure  of  the  sensory  organs,  not 
only  have  different  sensations  from  those  of  man,  but  also  in 
certain  divisions  of  the  senses  feel  more  or  fewer  impressions 
as  separate  and  distinct  than  he  so  recognizes,  we  can  take  it 
for  granted  that  there  are  those  which  feel  motions  in  nature, 
that  do  not  act  upon  man  as  sensory  impressions  at  all.  But 
then  the  theory  is  not  absurd  that  a  new,  yes,  even  several 
and  many  new  natural  powers  may  be  discovered  for  the 
perception  of  which  man  has  no  especial  sense,  but  which 
are  made  known  to  him  in  an  artistic  way  and  by  aid  of  the 
other  senses  as  soon  as  they  transform  themselves  into  the 
respective  modes  of  motion  ;  that,  furthermore,  this  new  power 
of  nature  —  for  which  at  the  same  time  a  new  name  must  be 
created  —  forms  the,  as  yet  unrecognized,  factor  in  phenomena 
which  until  now  have  not  been  explained  at  all,  or  only  very 
unsatisfactorily.  (See  Note  6.) 

After  some  time,  when  the  sensation  and  conception  corre- 
sponding to  the  outer  impressions  have  vanished  from  con- 
sciousness and  entered  the  domain  of  the  unconscious,  it  would 
appear  as  though  every  sign  of  the  physical  process  had  also 
vanished.  But  there  are  many  evidences  that  the  impression 
did  not  pass  away  without  leaving  some  trace,  that  it  left  a 


PSYCHOLOGY    AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  15 


certain  disposition  in  the  nervous  system  which  is  not  like  the 
actual  molecular  motion,  accompanying  the  impression,  but 
facilitates  its  reappearance.  It  is  impossible  that  the  latent 
conception  should  be  the  same  as  the  actual  one,  or  even  that 
it  should  consist  of  a  less  degree  of  the  same  ;  at  least  one  sign 
is  wanting,  —  the  accompanying  physiological  irritation.  But  it 
is  also  true  that  the  latter  is  not  without  its  after-effect  in  a 
purely  physiological  sense. 

Even  in  every  nerve-fibre  the  susceptibility  is  heightened  by 
every  emotion,  in  case  it  is  not  too  strong ;  that  is,  a  changed 
condition  remains  by  which  a  repetition  of  the  same  sensation 
is  rendered  easier.  In  the  central  nerve  substance,  these  results 
are  very  similar,  but  of  much  longer  duration.  In  all  pro- 
cesses dependent  upon  our  nervous  system  we  notice  such 
after-effects,  as,  in  their  outer  appearance,  we  are  in  the  habit 
of  calling  practice.  These  are  especially  known  to  us  from 
the  motion  of  members  of  our  body. 

Numerous  thoroughly  studied  experiences  compel  us  to  take 
for  granted  that  analogous  processes  of  practice  (like  that  of 
the  muscles)  take  place  everywhere  in  the  nervous  system  and 
its  accessory  organs.  We  must  conceive  the  changes  which 
are  hereby  produced  in  the  organs  as  molecular  deposits  of 
more  or  less  duration,  which  are  as  different  from  the  motion 
which  they  render  easier  as  the  layers  of  chlorine  and  nitro- 
gen atoms  in  nitro-chloric-acid  gas  are  different  from  the 
explosive  dissolution  which  is  quickened  by  it.  (See  Note  7.) 

"  Where  we  have  no  knowledge  of  the  true  condition  of  the 
molecular  changes,  in  which  this  practice  consists,  as  is  the  case 
with  the  complicated  structure  of  the  nervous  system,  we  have 
only  the  one  general  expression,  which,  however,  has  the  advan- 
tage in  contrast  with  the  view  of  remaining  material  impressions, 
that  it  claims  material  after-effects,  which  continue  at  first, 
but  with  no  practice  gradually  fall  away,  and  do  not  consist 
in  a  continuation  of  the  function  itself,  but  in  facilitating  its 
repetition."  —  \Vundt. 


1 6  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

Some  persons,  it  is  true,  think  that  the  claim  of  physiological 
dispositions  is  a  pure  fiction,  brought  forward  to  gain  the  physi- 
ological foundation  of  which  we  know  nothing,  for  psychologi- 
cal facts  of  which  alone  we  have  any  knowledge.  To  these, 
Wundt  answers  that  it  is  just  on  their  physical  side  that  we  may 
hope  gradually  to  know  more  of  the  nature  of  those  enduring 
changes,  which  we  shortly  term  dispositions ;  while,  on  the 
psychical  side,  we  must  forever  give  up  this  hope,  as  the  limit 
of  consciousness  is  also  the  boundary  of  our  inner  experi- 
ence. 

A  great  many  of  these  scholars  look  upon  the  change  which 
remains  as  a  material  trace  which  is  similar  to  the  former  and 
to-be-repeated  act,  but  of  less  force ;  but  Wundt  remarks  that 
conceptions  are  not  eternal  beings,  but  functions ;  and  that 
the  remaining  after-effects  are  to  be  thought  of  as  functional 
dispositions.  He  attempts  to  explain  the  difference  in  the 
following  way :  An  eye  which  has  long  looked  into  glaring 
light  will  retain  an  impression  in  the  image  left  on  the  retina, 
but  an  eye  which  often  compares  great  distances  in  space 
gains  an  increasing  power  in  sight-measuring.  The  retained 
image  is  a  remaining  trace ;  the  skill  in  measuring,  a  functional 
disposition ;  the  cell  membrane,  and  muscles  of  the  practised 
eye  may  possibly  be  fashioned  in  just  the  same  way  as  those  of 
the  unpractised  one ;  and  yet  the  one  has  a  stronger  disposi- 
tion than  the  other. 

Not  only  the  peripheral  ends  of  the  sensory  nerves  retain 
such  physiological  dispositions,  but  we  have  a  right  to  regard 
this  power  to  retain  as  a  general  attribute  of  the  whole  nervous 
system,  especially  in  the  central  division  of  the  brain  and  spinal 
cord. 

Luys  says  a  sensation,  during  its  transmission  by  the  nerves, 
is  not  equally  great  everywhere,  but  grows  like  an  avalanche 
the  more  it  approaches  the  central  parts.  He  calls  this 
quality  which  the  nervous  system  has  of  retaining  impressions 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  I/ 

of  former  sensations,  "  organic  phosphorescence,"  and  com- 
pares it  with  the  properties  of  so-called  phosphorescent  bodies, 
which,  after  they  have  been  touched  by  rays  of  light,  still  send 
forth  a  brilliant  glow  even  after  the  source  of  the  falling  light 
has  disappeared.  (See  Note  8.) 

Others  look  upon  this  power  of  the  nervous  system  as  a 
universal  function  of  all  organic  matter,  of  which  function 
transmission  is  only  a  special  form. 

Hensen  thinks  :  "  Memory  is  not  a  change  of  the  molecular 
arrangements  of  central  parts,  —  nerve-cells,  —  because  if  it 
were,  the  rapid  production  of  the  substance  of  our  body  would 
very  soon  destroy  all  such  trace-formations." 

Ribot  defines  descent  in  the  following  way :  "  Heredity  is 
that  law  of  Biology  by  virtue  of  which  all  those  beings  en- 
dowed with  life  tend  to  repeat  themselves  in  their  descend- 
ants ;  it  gives  to  the  species  what  personal  identity  is  for  the 
individual." 

Charles  Darwin  and  his  followers  attempted  to  show  that 
actions  of  animals  and  of  men,  engendered  by  natural  or  arti- 
ficial training,  became  fixed  as  habits,  and  then,  like  all  enduring 
physical  and  psychical  qualities,  were  transmitted  to  others, 
and  thereby  became  inborn  instincts  and  dispositions  which, 
under  the  continued  influence  of  constant  natural  laws,  grew  in 
force  and  strength. 

Even  though  we  think  that  decided  clear  conceptions  and 
complete  psycho-physical  processes  are  not  themselves  trans- 
mitted, but  only  a  disposition  for  them  which  facilitates  their 
repetition,  yet  it  admits  of  no  doubt  that  heredity,  one  form  of 
the  described  "universal  function  of  matter,"  is  of  immense 
importance  because  it  transmits  to  the  individual  the  residuum 
of  the  psycho-physical  development  of  all  preceding  genera- 
tions as  dispositions. 

This  disposition  remaining  in  the  nervous  system  from  previous 
sensations  is  changed  again  into  an  actual  sensation,  by  the 


18  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

return  of  an  impression  or  conception  which  preceded  or  fol- 
lowed the  former  function ;  in  the  reproduced  form  it  appears 
as  a  renewed  function  of  consciousness,  which  recognizes  it  as 
identical  with  the  former  in  "  memory." 

Aside  from  external  impressions,  and  those  engendered  in 
the  sensory  organs  as  well  as  in  the  rest  of  the  organism 
(general  sensations),  other  impressions  (so-called  "automatic 
sensations"),  in  which  the  nerve-centres  themselves  form  the 
point  of  issue,  may  cause  a  function.  The  best  known  actions 
which  are  caused  by  automatic  sensations  are  involuntary  and 
instinctive  motions.  But  without  doubt  still  other  processes 
dependent  on  the  nervous  system  —  secretions,  interceptions 
of  motion,  etc. — are  sometimes  occasioned  by  the  same  kind  of 
sensation.  According  to  this,  we  give  the  name  "automatic 
sensations  "  to  all  those  external  motions  which  are  caused  by 
internal  irritation  of  the  motory  central  division.  Luys  writes  : 
"  Especially  during  sleep,  when  the  sensory  organs  are  more 
unsusceptible  to  external  impressions,  the  internal  sensations 
originating  in  the  blood  remain  active,  and  automatic  sensa- 
tions, together  with  the  functionary  dispositions  loosened  by 
them,  cause  the  imaginative  conceptions  of  dreams.  In  patho- 
logic conditions  they  are  the  cause  of  vague  ideas  and  delirium 
as  well  as  forced  actions  in  the  motory  department."  Wundt 
classifies  impressions  according  to  their  physical  origin,  in  the 
following  manner :  — 

Sensations  caused  by  peripheral  Sensations  caused  by  central 

irritation.  irritation. 


Peripheral  sen-    Impressions  of     Innervation  impressions  Central  sensory 
sory  impressions,     the  organs.  and  central  general          impressions. 

impressions. 


General  impressions. 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  19 

This  after-effect  of  impressions,  and  the  continuance  of  con- 
ceptional  functions  as  functional  dispositions,  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  for  all  psychical  life.  Without  the  existence  of 
external  sensory  organs,  no  conceptions  would  be  formed ; 
without  that  fortunate  condition  of  the  central  organs,  which 
renders  the  recall  of  former  sensory  impressions  possible,  there 
could  be  no  connection  between  our  impressions  and  concep- 
tions. It  is  only  through  this  that  consciousness  gains  that 
continuity  which  distinguishes  us  from  beings  of  a  day  by 
rendering  it  possible  in  the  steady  flow  of  mental  processes  to 
descend  once  more  into  this  flow.  For  this  reason  we  infer  a 
present  consciousness  in  the  gradual  succession  of  beings  from 
the  after-effect  of  past  impressions.  This  only  will  show  us 
whether  that  union  of  impressions,  characteristic  to  all  con- 
sciousness, has  been  preserved  to  a  certain  degree.  For  in 
every  case  "  the  ability  to  connect  ideas  and  conceptions " 
serves  us  as  "  the  scale  of  consciousness."  As  soon  as  we  our- 
selves only  meagerly  introduce  impressions  into  the  continuity 
of  our  conceptions,  or  subsequently  can  only  imperfectly  remem- 
ber them  because  of  their  incomplete  connection,  we  ascribe  it  to 
a  less  degree  of  consciousness  during  the  special  time.  Among 
the  lowest  classes  of  animals,  which  evidently  retain  only  the 
immediately  preceding  impression,  and  earlier  ones  in  rare 
instances,  when  they  have  been  often  repeated,  we  also  infer 
an  imperfect  consciousness.  In  the  mind  of  man,  however, 
conceptions  long  since  vanished,  with  the  exception  of  those 
received  in  the  first  two  years  of  existence,  may,  under  favor- 
able conditions,  be  renewed,  especially  when  they  were  very 
intense,  and  intimately  connected  with  the  affections,  or  had 
often  been  received  and  practised,  though  an  unlimited  space 
of  time  has  passed  since  their  first  impression. 

Plato  says  in  several  places,  "  The  impressions  which  man 
receives  in  childhood  are  the  most  important,  as  they  are  more 
easily  impressed,  and  that  which  is  learnt  in  youth  is  always 


2O  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

retained  best.  What  is  practised  from  youth  up  gradually 
forms  part  of  the  character ;  wherefore  we  should  imitate  only 
the  good,  and  nothing  bad." 

In  youth  the  senses  should  be  especially  exercised,  the  limit 
of  view  extended,  and  the  views  of  objects  be  impressed  upon 
the  child  distinctly  and  minutely. 

With  regard  to  the  combination  and  separation  of  ideas, 
that  is,  the  actual  mental  labor,  however,  Alexander  Bain  and 
Spencer  justly  remark  that  the  brain  of  children  grows  and 
gains  in  ability  only  gradually.  Tasks  which  the  child  could 
not  perform  at  all,  or  only  with  great  difficulty,  will  be  very 
easy  a  few  years  later.  The  child  should,  therefore,  not  have 
the  abstract,  but  the  concrete,  offered  it  for  its  reception.  It 
should  receive  no  complicated  and  complete  conception  before 
it  has  gained  possession  of  the  simple  elements  which  compose 
that  conception.  Spencer  says :  "  As  the  simplest  elements 
must  be  mastered,  and  as  their  conquest,  let  it  take  place  when 
it  will,  takes  up  time,  it  will  prove  an  economy  to  devote  the 
first  stage  of  childhood,  during  which  no  other  mental  labor  is 
possible?  to  their  perfect  appropriation  in  all  their  modifica- 
tions. We  will  not  overlook  the  fact  that  temper,  as  well  as 
health,  receives  a  favorable  development  from  the  continued 
satisfaction  which  results  from  the  proper  provision  of  these 
impressions,  which  every  child  so  anxiously  appropriates." 

In  the  development  of  every  faculty,  strongly  contrasting 
impressions  are  the  first  to  be  distinguished,  —  tones  of  re- 
markable difference  in  force  and  pitch ;  colors  least  related  to 
each  other ;  objects  most  unlike  in  firmness  or  the  combina- 
tion of  their  parts.  The  advance  to  more  closely  allied  im- 
pressions should  take  place  only  very  slowly. 

Luys  says :  "  The  brain-cells  of  very  small  children  have 
their  distinct  histologic  character.  They  are  soft,  gray  of 
color,  and  in  a  manner  pliant.  In  their  dynamic  relation  they 
are  properly  in  a  virgin  state,  as  they  have  not  as  yet  been 


PSYCHOLOGY    AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  21 

exposed  to  any  concussions ;  and  we  may  truly  say  that  senso- 
rial  sensations  which  reach  the  as  yet  unconnected  cells  must 
make  an  impression  more  easily,  because  the  ability  of  reten- 
tion has  not  yet  been  proven."  The  brain-substance  of  small 
children  is  disposed  in  an  especially  high  degree  to  receive 
impressions. 

Where  the  ability  of  the  nervous  element  to  retain  traces  of 
the  external  impressions  touching  it  has  risen  to  a  high  degree, 
and  is  in  permanent  action,  the  resulting  vibration  in  a  manner 
calls  forth  an  unconquerable  erethism.  This  causes  many 
pathologic  phenomena;  in  other  cases  this  ability  is  abnor- 
mally small,  and  a  partial  or  total  failing  of  memory  is  the  con- 
sequence. 

The   power  of    memory,   especially   the   mere   mechanical 
action  of  it,  is  strongest  in  childhood  and  youth ;  it  decreases 
in  manhood,  and  still  more  in  old  age.     And  yet,  even  in 
youth,  a  mild,  not  remarkable  impression,  is  rarely  retained  if  it 
only  occurred  once  ;  it  must  be  repeated  in  order  to  remain  true 
and  lasting.     Experiment  also  shows  that  a  single  sensation 
will  not  visibly  change  the  sensibility  of  the  nerves,  therefore 
it  leaves  no  lasting  impression.     It  is  only  when  the  sensation 
has  been  often  repeated  in  certain  intervals,  that  a  marked  and 
lasting  change,  a  heightened  sensibility,  appears.     Impressions 
occurring  too  often,  however,  and  without  the  proper  intervals, 
as  well  as  excessive  sensations,  cause  a  weakening  of  the  ner- 
vous  system.     On  studying  the   general  laws  of  the   central 
functions,  Wundt  stated  practice  as  the  fifth  main  principle  : 
/*  Every  element  becomes  more  suited  to  a  certain  function  the 
/  oftener  it  is  led  by  external  conditions  to  exercise  it.     The  fre- 
/     quent  repetition  of  the  same  impression  greatly  facilitates  the 
reception  of  a  similar  one,  and  the  repetition  of  various  sensa- 
l      tions  in  a  certain  sphere  of  the  nervous  system  renders  possible 
\  the  distinction  of  the  finest  differences  in  the  force  and  quality 
of  the  received  impressions.     This  causes  the  acuteness  of  the 


22  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

sensoiy  organs  of  so  many  barbaric-  races,  which  has  very 
frequently  been  mentioned  in  works  of  travel  and  psychology ; 
also  the  great  ability  of  painters  to  distinguish  colors,  or  musi- 
cians, sounds.  The  frequent  performance  of  a  function  lessens 
the  amount  of  exertion  necessary  for  a  similar  or  more  difficult 
one.  The  scholar  who  has  pursued  a  thought  often,  and  viewed 
it  from  various  aspects,  is  enabled  to  comprehend  a  similar  one 
more  quickly,  and  pursue  it  farther,  while  a  layman  would  find 
it  impossible  to  grasp  the  same  thought,  or  would  succeed  only 
after  great  labor.  On  the  other  hand,  a  workman  who  uses 
the  powers  of  his  nervous  system  mostly  in  physical  force,  will, 
without  difficulty,  perform  a  physical  labor  to  which  a  scholar 
would  succumb." 

The  impressions  and  the  dispositions  resulting  therefrom  are 
not  restricted  to  that  part  of  the  nervous  system  which  was 
immediately  excited,  but  they  extend  to  neighboring  divisions 
and  enter  into  combination  with  each  other.  Very  strong  and 
often  repeated  impressions  will  also  excite  more  distant  parts, 
as  the  central  portions  of  the  spinal  cord  and  brain  are  con- 
nected with  each  other  by  numerous  nerve-fibres,  and*  form  a 
complete  union.  Dispositions  in  more  or  less  removed  parts 
are  released,  and  thus  the  function  begins  also  in  those  parts 
not  directly  affected  by  the  sensation. 

Wundt  says  :  "  After  the  sensation  has  taken  place,  primarily 
at  the  irritated  point,  it  influences  the  neighboring  parts,  where 
the  existing  molecular  action  now  also  partly  changes  into  sen- 
sorial  activity."  He  distinguishes  four  ways  in  the  extension  of 
sensations :  i .  Combination  of  sensific  with  sensitive  fibres 
(sympathetic  sensations).  2.  Combination  of  sensitive  with 
motor  fibres  (reflex  motion).  3.  Combination  of  sensitive 
with  secretory  fibres  (reflector  secretion).  4.  Combination  of 
sensitive  and  intercepting  fibres  (reflex  interceptions) .  Finally, 
the  sensitive  central  organs  may  be  connected  with  each  other, 
which  causes  the  automatic  or  reflexive  sensation  to  extend  to 
neighboring  nerve-cells,  and  call  forth  sympathetic  sensations. 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  23 

Sympathetic  sensation  and  co-emotion  in  the  spinal  cord : 
both  phenomena  happen,  without  doubt,  when  the  sensation 
spreads  so  far  in  the  gray  substance  that  not  only  the  fibres  of 
the  normal  course  of  transmission,  but  also  further  longitudinal 
fibres  of  the  front  or  rear  divisions  of  the  brain  are  innervated. 

In  this  way  arise  sympathetic  sensations  and  co-emotions  of 
various  sorts.  Shakespeare  says  :  — 

"  For  let  our  finger  ache,  and  it  endues 
Our  other  healthful  members  ev'n  to  that  sense 
Of  pain." 

And  all  who  were  ever  troubled  with  toothache  know  that  it 
is  often  difficult  to  localize  the  pain  in  a  certain  tooth,  as  sym- 
pathy causes  a  greater  part  of  the  teeth  to  appear  sick  and  to 
cause  pain.  Just  as  well  known  is  the  sympathetic  movement 
of  the  fingers,  which  the  beginner  in  piano-playing  can  only 
cure  by  continued  exertion.  A  summation  of  reflex  sensations 
is  caused  when  the  sensitive  fibres  which  were  irritated  enter 
the  spinal  cord  at  equal  height,  and  on  the  same  side,  while 
such  fibtes  as  arise  on  different  sides,  and  at  unequal  height, 
oftener  cause  a  mutual  interception  of  the  interfering  sensa- 
tions. Irritation  of  the  sensitive  parts  of  the  brain  intercepts 
the  reflex  motions ;  the  removal  of  certain  parts  of  the  brain 
also  removes  the  interception.  With  many  narcotic  poisons, 
also,  the  reflex  aggravating  action  on  the  spinal  nerve  is  often 
counteracted  by  the  interception  of  the  brain. 


24  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER   III. 

RELATIONS  OF  CONCEPTIONS  TO  EACH  OTHER. 

« 
POSITIVE    AND    NEGATIVE    OR    INTERCEPTING    POWERS   OF    NERVES. 

BOND    UNITING    MENTAL  AND   PHYSICAL    FUNCTIONS.  —  WHAT 

MAKES  THE  BEGINNER  A  MASTER  ?  —  THE  FIRST  IMPRESSION.  — 
DOUBLE  FORM  OF  PRACTICE. ANALOGY  BETWEEN  PSYCHO- 
LOGICAL FORMS  OF  ASSOCIATION  AND  VARIOUS  FORMS  OF 
PHYSIOLOGICAL  PRACTICE. 

THE  conception  called  forth  by  some  incident  will  not 
remain  isolated,  but  awakens  a  large  number  of  other  thoughts 
and  memories,  and  their  action  continues ;  finally  it  is  inter- 
cepted by  another  strong  impression,  and  by  the  connections 
surrounding  the  latter  led  into  other  paths.  • 

Kussmaul  thinks  that  when  the  union  of  the  functions  of 
separate  parts  which  are  caused  by  a  single  impression  is  only 
loose,  it  will  grow  firmer,  often  inseparable,  by  its  repetition. 
"  It  seems  just  as  if  impressions  that  repeatedly  transfer  them- 
selves from  one  point  to  another  put  aside  obstructions  on  the 
connecting  paths,  and  make  the  way  freer,  smoother,  and  more 
traversible." 

According  to  Wundt,  "  there  are  positive  and  negative  or 
intercepting  powers  in  the  nerves.  The  former  arise  when  the 
loose  chemical  combinations  of  the  nervous  elements  are 
converted  into  'firmer  ones ;  the  latter,  when  firm  combinations 
are  changed  to  loose  connections. 

"  The  balance  between  positive  and  negative  molecular  work 
brings  forth  the  stationary  condition  of  the  nerve  in  which 


RELATIONS  OF  CONCEPTIONS  TO  EACH  OTHER.   25 

neither  its  temperature  changes  nor  any  external  action  is  per- 
formed. Through  the  influences  of  the  impression  the  negative 
as  well  as  the  positive  molecular  work  of  the  nerve  is  enlarged. 
External  labor,  muscular  twitching,  or  irritation  of  the  ganglia- 
cells,  can  be  caused  by  the  impression,  only  when  it  continually 
accelerates  the  positive  molecular  action  in  a  greater  degree 
than  the  negative.  .  .  .  After  the  twitching  has  ceased  there 
will  for  some  time  be  a  surplus  of  positive  molecular  action, 
which  appears  in  the  strengthened  effect  of  a  second  impres- 
sion. Of  the  entire  amount  of  positive  molecular  action  which 
is  set  free  by  the  irritation  of  the  nerve,  no  doubt  only  a  portion 
is  changed  into  exciting  effects,  or,  as  we  generally  term  it, 
appears  in  arousing  actions ;  another  part  may  change  to  heat ; 
a  third,  to  stored-up  (negative)  action.  The  arousing  action  is 
only  partly  used  in  releasing  external  effects  of  irritation,  mus- 
cular twitching,  or  irritation  of  the  ganglia-cells,  as  a  heightened 
irritability  exists  during  and  after  convulsive  motion.  A  newly 
approaching  impression  will,  therefore,  always  find  a  surplus  of 
arousing  action.  Should  no  new  irritation  take  place,  this 
surplus *most  likely  changes  to  heat."  "  Even  in  the  periph- 
eral nerves  the  intercepting  powers  gradually  decrease  if  an 
impression  is  repeatedly  made  upon  them  ;  at  first,  so  long 
as  the  ability  to  act  has  not  been  exhausted,  the  susceptibility 
will  rise  with  repeated  excitement ;  this  excitement  is  therefore 
generally  accompanied  by  a  change  in  the  nerve-substance, 
through  which  it  loses  the  ability  which  particularly  belongs  to 
the  central  elementary  parts,  and  causes  the  intercepting  effect 
connected  with  the  restitution  of  the  inner  powers.  It  is 
further  believed  that  the  stirring  or  changing  of  these  parts  of 
the  nerve  must  overcome  obstructions  and  interceptions,  whose 
resistance  is  in  inverse  ratio  to  their  susceptibility." 

Conceptions  which  frequently  enter  our  consciousness  to- 
gether or  directly  following  each  other  will  grow  to  a  firm 
association  just  as  similar  ones  do  ;  and  as  soon  as  one  appears, 


26  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

it  will  awaken  the  others  connected  with  it.  If  we  view  a  land- 
scape with  attention,  and  afterwards  picture  a  single  feature  of 
it  to  ourselves  in  memory,  the  others  will  also  immediately  appear 
with  more  or  less  clearness.  Luys  says  :  "  If  a  certain  group 
of  brain-cells  are  simultaneously  subject  to  a  course  of  sensorial 
impressions,  a  mysterious  band  will  immediately  enclose  this 
whole  group  so  that  they  almost  seem  to  form  a  union."  Now 
any  sensation  need  only  strike  the  sight,  hearing,  or  smell,  and 
in  consequence  of  this  mysterious  union  the  other  simultaneous 
impressions  will  immediately  be  reawakened  as  "recollections." 
He  designates  this  as  "  a  powerful  instrument  for  the  education 
of  the  mind  and  the  methodic  development  of  its  abilities  " ; 
because  man  can  thereby  attach  "  series  of  recollections,  series 
of  conceptions,  of  experimental  facts,  and  of  scientific  principles 
to  the  first  recollection."  What  is  true  regarding  the  intel- 
lectual may  also  be  said  of  the  physical  functions,  both  simple 
and  complicated  :  of  writing  and  drawing,  of  dancing,  fencing, 
and  swimming,  of  playing  musical  instruments,  of  spinning, 
weaving,  knitting,  and  embroidering,  as  well  as  all  other  accom- 
plishments, and  hard  labor.  What  was  at  first  performed  slowly 
and  with  great  effort  is  gradually  done  more  quickly  and  with 
greater  ease :  a  small  provocation  excites  one  part  of  the 
nervous  system,  and  immediately  the  other  parts  begin  their 
action. 

What  was  it  that  so  facilitated  these  performances  by  their 
repetition,  and  made  the  beginner  a  master  ?  It  was  the  ability 
of  the  nervous  system  to  retain  former  impressions  as  disposi- 
tions, and  permit  these  to  enter  into  combination  with  each 
other.  "  The  wonderful  co-operation  of  our  motific  muscles  for 
distinct  purposes,  the  harmonious  union  of  movements  for  the 
accomplishment  of  special  performances,  is  only  possible  because 
the  excito-motory  cells  of  the  spinal  cord  possess  the  ability  of 
keeping  back  latent  traces  of  the  first  impressions  affecting 
them,  and  retaining  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  the  ability  to 


RELATIONS  OF  CONCEPTIONS  TO  EACH  OTHER.   2/ 

follow  in  the  path  of  the  first  impression.  The  very  first  im- 
pression vibrates  within  us  like  a  dim,  faint  echo  of  the  past, 
and  brings  about  the  sensations  of  automatic  life ;  continually 
interposing,  always  the  same,  it  invariably  comes  forward  in  the 
shape  of  unconscious  recollections,  causing  regular  rhythmical 
motions  in  which  unmistakable  traces  of  the  first  impression  are 
revealed. 

Wundt  distinguishes  a  double  form  of  practice.  In  the  first 
place,  a  certain  separate  movement,  which  may  be  more  or  less 
complicated,  may  be  rendered  easier  by  practice.  This  is  direct 
practice.  The  invariable  consequence  of  it  is  that  the  practised 
parts  also  grow  more  skilful  in  the  execution  of  other  relative 
motions.  Secondly,  practice  may  consist  of  the  combined  ex- 
ercise of  different  motions,  which  are  executed  by  different 
parts  simultaneously  or  successively.  This  is  the  indirect  prac- 
tice or  mutual  drill.  The  invariable  consequence  of  this  is  that 
the  various  motions  practised  together  will  combine  more  and 
more  intimately,  even  involuntarily,  with  each  other.  Current 
examples  of  such  combined  practice  are  the  motions  of  the 
arms,  hands,  and  feet  in  certain  mechanical  performances,  such 
as  climbing,  swimming,  spinning,  weaving,  etc.  These  various 
forms  of  physiological  practice  show  a  complete  analogy  with 
the  psychological  forms  of  association.  There  as  well  as  here 
we  find  two  cases  :  a  certain  emotion  facilitates  the  occurrence 
of  a  similar  or  related  emotion,  and  various  emotions  practised 
together  remain  united  in  simultaneous  or  successive  order,  ac- 
cording to  the  method  pursued  in  practising  them.  If  to  this 
unmistakable  analogy  we  add  the  supposition  developed  before, 
that  every  conception  is  accompanied  by  a  central  physiologic 
sensation,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  every  psychical 
association  of  conceptions  is  accompanied  by  a  corresponding 
physiological  association  of  the  central  innervation  proceedings. 

Charles  Darwin  also  speaks  of  the  fact  that  actions,  sensations, 
and  feelings  which  happen  simultaneously  or  in  Close  succession 


28  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

strive  to  combine  and  intermingle,  and  in  such  a  way  that  if  any 
one  of  them  is  in  future  offered  to  the  soul,  the  others  are  in- 
clined to  be  re-awakened.  Herbert  Spencer  says,  in  the  preface 
to  his  study  of  sociology  :  "  As  soon  as  two  conceptions,  often 
repeated  in  a  certain  order,  become  united  in  that  order,  and  as 
soon  as  muscular  movements  which  it  was  at  first  difficult  to 
combine  in  the  proper  manner,  even  when  special  attention  was 
directed  thereto,  grow  easy  by  practice  and  finally  automatic, 
this  repeated  generation  of  a  certain  action  renders  this  action 
comparatively  easy  by  aid  of  the  sensations  calling  it  forth." 

Darwin  hereon  founds  his  first  main  principle  of  the  expres^ 
sion  movements,  "  the  principle  of  appropriately  associated 
habits."  Certain  complicated  actions  are  in  certain  conditions 
of  the  mind  of  direct  or  indirect  use  in  facilitating  or  satisfying 
certain  sensations,  wishes,  etc. ;  and  as  soon  as  the  same  mental 
condition  is  occasioned,  in  however  weak  a  way,  an  inclination 
to  execute  the  same  motions  will  be  there  in  consequence  of 
the  power  of  habit  and  association,  though  in  this  case  they  are 
not  of  the  least  value.  "  All  actions  of  consciousness  appear  to 
be  continually  striving  to  combine  with  past  and  simultaneous 
actions."  —  Wundt. 

Herbart  had  previously  placed  the  persistence  of  the  will 
parallel  to  the  persistence  of  conceptions,  and  had  spoken  of  a 
"  memory  of  the  will." 


PROPERLY    ASSOCIATED    HABITS.  29 


CHAPTER   IV. 

PROPERLY   ASSOCIATED   HABITS. 

DEFINITION   OF   HABIT  AND   HABITUDE. PRINCIPLE   OF  ASSOCIATED 

PRACTICE,     REPETITION,     HABIT,   IN    THE    INORGANIC    WORLD. 

RESULTS   OF   HABIT. NEGATIVE   AND   POSHTVE    USE   OF  POWER. 

DIVISION  AND   CONCENTRATION   OF   POWER. AIM   OF   HUMAN 

EDUCATION. — OBJECT  LESSONS. 

LEON  DUMONT  says  :  "  Knowledge  is  a  habitude  of  the  intel- 
ligence." Gassendi  has  very  ingeniously  compared  habitude 
and  memory  to  a  paper  which  easily  resumes  the  folds  accord- 
ing to  which  it  has  been  folded  before.  Dugald  Stewart  looked 
upon  habitude  as  a  result  of  the  association  of  ideas.  This  is, 
however,  mistaking  the  effect  for  the  cause.  He  sees  the  close 
relation,  even  the  identity,  between  both  phenomena,  habitude, 
and  the  association  of  ideas  as  well  as  motions.  He  recognizes 
that  the  one  phenomenon  is  more  general,  and  the  other  only 
a  kind  or  particularity  of  the  same  ;  but  he  does  not  notice  that 
the  association  of  ideas  or  motions  is  only  one  of  the  most  fre- 
quent and  remarkable  forms  of  habitude. 

Exactly  the  same  occurs  with  the  motions  excited  and  regu- 
lated by  the  brain.  And  these  dispositions  here,  as  well  as  in 
the  intellectual  functions,  intimately  combine,  and  by  their  con- 
certed action  render  complicated  actions  possible,  and  perform 
them  more  quickly  and  easily.  Practice  and  habitude  cause  all 
this ;  they  effect  the  union  of  the  separate  parts  of  the  intellect 
and  physical  motions,  as  well  as  the  union  of  these  two  with 
each  other,  and  permit  them  to  gain  greater  skill  and  ease  in 
the  execution  of  their  offices. 


3O  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

If  we  now  proceed  to  the  definition  of  habit  and  habitude,  we 
shall  say,  Habit  is  the  disposition  of  a  psycho-physical  organ- 
ism by  which  it  is  enabled  on  given  (outer  or  inner)  induce- 
ments directly  to  perform  relatively  similar  functions,  simple  or 
complicated  (directly,  that  is,  in  a  being  more  highly  developed 
psychically ;  without  any  preceding  consideration  and  arrange- 
ment of  separate  actions  by  a  decided  impulse  of  the  will). 
Habitude  is,  furthermore,  the  development  of  this  disposition  by 
the  repetition  of  relatively  similar  impressions  and  the  reac- 
tions following  them, 

This  definition,  it  is  true,  does  not  entirely  correspond  with 
that  of  Deinhardt  and  Rosenkranz,  but  it  is  nevertheless  not 
wholly  wanting  in  advocates.  In  the  last  century  the  peda- 
gogue Resewitz  wrote  :  "  Like  a  machine,  which,  if  continually 
turned  in  the  same  manner  and  moved  by  the  same  driving- 
spring,  receives  a  decided  inclination  and  disposition  to  this 
mode  of  motion,  the  human  soul  receives  a  decided  inclination 
and  propensity  for  those  modes  of  expression  and  feeling  to 
which  it  has  grown  accustomed  by  repeated  similar  practices." 
The  physician  Dr.  Kussmaul  says  in  later  days :  "  If  we  often 
combine  a  certain  feeling  or  conception  with  a  motion,  the 
latter  will  finally  take  place  involuntarily  as  soon  as  that  feeling 
or  that  conception  is  called  forth,  and  vice  versa.  Certain 
notes  recall  certain  words  to  our  mind,  or  the  words,  the  notes, 
,and  we  sing,  or  whistle,  them  lowly  to  ourselves.  „  That  bond 
'which  the  practice  of  our  central  organs  knits  between  various 
stations  of  feeling,  conception,  and  motion,  we  call  habitude. 
Stations,  which  are  in  the  habit  of  corresponding,  answer  each 
other's  dispatches  very  promptly,  while  those  of  others  are  not 
answered  at  all  or  only  with  hesitation  and  doubt."  Wundt 
remarks :  "  Many  phenomena  (especially  the  influence  of 
practice  on  combined  motions)  prove  that  when  a  sensation  is 
frequently  carried  through  the  ganglia-cells  in  a  certain  direc- 
tion this  direction  will  in  future  cases  when  impressions  touch 


PROPERLY    ASSOCIATED    HABITS.  31 

the  same  cells  be  pre-eminently  disposed  to  act  as  conduct  " ; 
and  at  another  place  :  "  External,  association  (according  to 
co-existence  in  space  and  succession  in  time)  rests  upon  a 
habit  formed  by  repeated  practice.  As  soon  as  concepticr.v-, 
which  may  be  without  any  internal  connection,  are  repeatedly 
offered  to  our  mind  in  external  combination,  there  will  be  an 
inclination  to  renew  them  in  the  same  connection.  We  may 
hence  term  the  principle  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  this  form  of 
associations  the  one  of  associated  practice,  by  which  we  already 
show  in  this  name  that  it  is  only  a  special  adaptation  of  the 
Law  of  Practice  so  all-important  in  all  psycho-physical  transac- 
tions." 

Ravisson  says  :  "  Habitude  is  not  only  a  state ;  it  is  a  disposi- 
tion, a  virtue.  Habitude  has  the  greater  force  when  the  change 
which  has  produced  it  continues  or  is  often  repeated."  The 
first  action  alone,  which  is  preceded  by  no  other  and  repeats 
no  other,  whatever  may  be  its  origin,  owes  nothing  to  habit. 
On  the  contrary,  to  it  habit  owes  its  existence.  It  possesses 
primarily  the  power  of  preparing,  animating,  facilitating, 
those  actions  which  follow  it.  "  Repetition  only  strengthens 
habitude  ;  for  an  act  even  when  it  has  not  been  completed  more 
than  a  single  time  leaves  a  disposition  which  is  the  point  for  the 
departure  of  habit.  But  if  this  first  accomplishment  did  not 
create  the  habitude,  thousands  of  repetitions  cannot  call  it 
forth,  for  the  repetition  produces  little  more  than  an  accumula- 
tion, and  to  that  accumulation  every  act,  even  the  first,  must 
have  contributed  in  a  certain  measure."  Dumont  cites  Aris- 
totle, who  says  that  some  individuals  derive  a  stronger  habit 
from  a  single  impression  than  others  from  oft-repeated  ones. 
The  impressions  themselves  also  have  different  results  (as  we 
remember  some  we  received  only  once  more  vividly  than  others 
which  often  met  our  view).  Habits  need  not  be  active  all  the 
time  to  retain  vitality,  but  can  exist  in  a  latent  condition  ;  hence 
their  intermission,  their  interruption.  If  the  continuing  dispo- 


32  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

sition  shall  again  be  turned  into  a  function  by  a  new  impression, 
the  nerves  must  possess  the  necessary  energy  through  a  suffi- 
cient inflow  of  matter.  Memory  is  dependent  on  the  strength 
of  the  blood  and  the  energy  of  its  circulation ;  he  who,  tired 
out  by  long  mental  labor,  cannot  recall  many  conceptions, 
should  wait  until  the  nerves  by  an  influx  of  matter  have  regained 
the  energy  necessary  to  perform  their  function. 

Lemoine  claims  that  inorganic  bodies  cannot  acquire  any 
habit,  but  thinks  that  the  acclimation  of  plants  is  nothing  more 
than  the  acquirement  of  habits  useful  or  pleasant  to  man. 
Trees  will  accustom  themselves  to  another  soil,  to  another 
climate.  Leon  Dumont  joins  Auguste  Comte,  who  connects 
Habit  with  the  Law  of  Indolence  ruling  in  the  inorganic  world  ; 
every  body  once  modified  would  remain  in  that  condition  for- 
ever if  it  were  not  disturbed  or  changed  in  its  individuality  by 
some  power. 

Tito  Vignola  and  Herbert  Spencer  explain  the  same  principle. 
This  ability  (of  memory) ,  which  is  founded  on  a  universal  cos- 
mic law,  is  confirmed  and  strengthened  by  repetition,  which  thus 
engenders  the  habit,  even  in  bodies  of  the  inorganic  world. 
Thus  the  periods  themselves  which  are  mirrored  in  all  cosmic 
facts,  as  well  as  the  habits  of  circling  nature,  may  in  part  be 
ascribed,  according  to  a  forcible  expression  of  Alighieri,  to  this 
inner  peculiarity  of  things  by  virtue  of  which  they  retain  and 
repeat  the  modifications,  the  acts,  the  processes,  begun  within  or 
introduced  into  them.  Leon  Dumont  attempts  to  illustrate  the 
presence  of  habit  in  the  inorganic  world,  and  defines  it  as 
follows :  "  Habitude  in  a  force  is  its  manner  of  reacting  on 
other  forces,  a  manner  of  reacting  which  results  even  in  the 
same  action  which  the  other  forces  before  exercised  on  it." 

If  we  now  proceed  to  investigate  what  results  in  generalibl- 
lowjTabjt  and  habitude,  we  shall  findjahQut  the  following  ;  — 

( i )  HAUIT  SAVES  POWER.  —  Practice  has  two  great  results. 
It  hot  only  teaches  the  selection  of  the  muscles  which  guaran- 


PROPERLY    ASSOCIATED    HABITS.  33 

tee  the  attainment  of  certain  aims,  but  it  also  puts  an  economic 
and  practically  regulated  use  of  the  motory  muscles  in  place  of 
the  formerly  unregulated  and  useless  waste  of  power  and  explo- 
sive eruptions. 

"  Kussmaul  writes  :  "The  sprawling  and  kicking  of  the  active 
child  gradually  change  into  grasping,  seizing  of  objects,  walking, 
etc.,  the  babbling,  hissing,  to  the  articulated  word.  Only  the 
Hottentots  and  Kaffirs  have  permanently  adopted  the  smack- 
ing sounds  into  their  alphabet."  The  age  of  youth  excels 
in  great  activity  of  the  imaginative  power,  and  with  regard  to 
motion  :  ever  restless,  the  growing  child  cannot  sit  quiet  for 
any  length  of  time  ;  it  runs  and  jumps  about  aimlessly.  Herein 
much  power  is  wasted,  which  in  early  years  the  child  may  not 
know  how  to  apply  better,  but  which  in  school  he  must  change 
into  attention  and  intellectual  activity.  It  is  impossible  to 
perform  heavy  physical  labor,  and  think  deeply  at  the  same 
time.  Just  as  an  intense  thought  necessarily  interrupts  every 
outer  physical  action,  a  leap  will  disturb  every  order  of 
thoughts.  The  vital  power  consumed  in  a  leap  is  lost  to 
the  train  of  psycho-physical  motion  necessary  to  thought ; 
and  the  mind  has  neither  the  power  to  continue  the  course 
as  before,  notwithstanding  the  loss,  nor  to  replace  the  loss 
from  its  own  perfection  of  power.  We  can,  it  is  true,  divide 
the  vital  power  at  the  disposal  of  our  will,  but  it  always  has 
its  maximum,  and  that  can  only  be  used  for  one  kind  of 
activity  in  the  proportion  in  which  the  others  rest.  Just  as  we 
rest  one  arm  to  employ  the  greatest  possible  power  in  the  other, 
so  we  must  let  all  parts  of  our  body  rest  to  use  the  highest 
possible  power  in  our  mind  ;  and  vice  versa,  the  mental  activity 
must  rest  as  much  as  possible  to  perform  movements  of  the 
greatest  power  possible  with  our  limbs.  Hence,  we  see  the 
deep  thinker  as  quiet  as  possible,  and  one  who  runs  and  lifts 
burdens  never  at  the  same  time  in  deep  thought.  The  two 
modes  of  work  are  opposed  to  each  other  and  cannot  be  simul- 


34  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

taneously  pursued.  The  same  relation  which  exists  between 
the  psycho-physical  and  purely  physical  activity  also  exists 
between  the  various  divisions  of  the  psycho-physical  actions. 
To  be  lost  in  the  view  of  an  external  object  and  think  deeply 
at  the  same  time  is  impossible ;  one  cannot  see  and  hear 
attentively  at  the  same  time.  To  thoroughly  do  one,  we  must 
abstain  from  the  other ;  and  as  the  attention  is  divided,  it  is 
weakened  for  the  separate  objects.  "  The  vital  power  used  in 
splitting  wood  is  not  only  quantitatively  similar  to  the  vital 
power  consumed  in  thinking,  but  they  may  even  be  inter- 
changed." —  Fechner. 

The  child  should  therefore  learn  to  sit  still,  and  save  its 
power ;  it  must  be  accustomed  to  be  passive  in  order  to  have 
the  power  for  a  decided  active  exertion  at  the  proper  time. 
The  youth  will  sometimes  revel  in  fantastic,  impracticable  ideals, 
and  the  maiden  often  show  great  sentimentalism.  Habitude 
should  save  both  from  useless  waste  of  intellectual  power,  so 
that  it  may  in  the  latter  case  be  used  beneficially  in  practical 
life,  and  in  the  former  be  devoted  to  the  execution  of  valuable 
and  practicable  ideas.  The  youth,  perhaps  even  the  man, 
grows  dissatisfied  with  the  existing  conditions  of  the  world }  in 
hasty  and  thoughtless  love  of  liberty  he  attempts  to  break 
through  the  barriers  which  public  law  has  raised,  and  widen 
the  field  of  his  activity.  Habitude  must  here  exercise  its  bene^. 
ficial  influence  from  the  earliest  ypars  •  the  boy  must  learn  to 
look  upon  obedience  to  his  parents  and  teacher  as  a  stern 
necessity,  that  he  may  gain  reverence  for  authority  and  learn  to 
bow  to  it  even  when  in  future  this  authority  is  no  longer  repre- 
sented by  parents  and  teachers,  but  by  other  persons,  and  by 
existing  laws  and  ordinances.  The  child  shall  be  accustomed 
to  obey  without  a  murmur,  that  the  adult  may  not  use  up  his 
best  strength  in  a  thoughtless  strife  against  circumstances  and 
his  own  self,  but  know  how  to  use  his  power  within  the  set 
bounds  in  a  beneficial  way. 


PROPERLY    ASSOCIATED    HABITS.  35 

Lazarus,  in  his  "  Lectures  on  Pedagogy,"  says  :  "  The  motto 
'  mens  sana  in  corpore  sano '  is  frequently  misused ;  for  there 
have  been  many  great  scholars  and  sages  who  uttered  very 
sound  thoughts,  and  yet  had  a  feeble  body.  The  greatest  part 
of  the  power  of  the  nervous  system  is  here  used  for  the  intel- 
lectual function."  Haller  and  Arneman  furthermore  found  many 
cases  where  not  only  in  an  ailment  of  small  parts,  but  even  in 
widespread  diseases  of  the  brain,  the  psychical  functions  remain 
undisturbed  in  consequence  of  the  vicariate  of  other  parts  of 
the  brain.  Every  one,  however,  who  suffers  from  a  feeble  body 
must  exercise  a  certain  energy  to  conquer  the  pressure  of  phys- 
ical pain,  and  this  power  which  he  uses  in  a  negative  way  could 
be  used  with  more  benefit  in  positive,  useful  action.  It  has 
also  been  proven  that  in  cases  of  apparently  undisturbed 
mental  functions,  during  brain  disease,  like  those  mentioned 
above,  these  actions  were  of  shorter  duration. 

The  distinction  between  negative  and  positive  use  of  power 
may,  however,  be  extended  to  the  ethic-social  life.  In  every 
private  enterprise,  a  large  part  of  the  attention,  in  every  state, 
an  important  part  of  judicial  and  police  labor,  is  caused  simply 
by  the  dishonesty  of  many  persons.  Could  this  be  put  aside, 
and  every  one  be  fully  trusted,  it  would  be  possible  to  devote 
far  more  power  and  time  to  positively  useful  works. 

Neither  should  the  boy  weaken  his  power  by  dividing  it,  even 
in  the  pursuit  of  lawful  ends.  With  perfect  justice  Lotze  in  his 
medical  psychology  points  to  the  two  principal  dangers,  —  a 
too  great  limitation  and  a  too  great  enlargement  of  the  circle 
of  impressions  and  actions.  It  is  true,  a  broad  education  and 
wide  activity  have  an  inestimable  value ;  it  is,  however,  univer- 
sally known  that  really  great  things  are  only  accomplished  by 
concentration.  For  which  reason  man  should  early  be  accus- 
tomed to  place  limits  for  himself,  not  to  make  his  sphere  of 
usefulness  too  small,  neither  to  extend  it  immeasurably,  but  to 
concentrate  his  energy,  especially  upon  those  actions  which  are 


36  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

best  suited  to  his  talents,  and  which  are  placed  in  his  way  by 
external  circumstances  or  inner  self-consecration.  He  dare 
not  thoughtlessly  spring  from  one  decision  to  another,  now  take 
up  this  work,  now  that ;  but  he  should  steadily  follow  the  plan 
once  adopted,  and  firmly  execute  it  with  concentrated  power." 
Lazarus,  in  his  "  Lectures  on  Pedagogy,"  speaks  of  the  psychol- 
ogy of  indolence,  and  points  out  the  following  facts.  ( i )  Lazi- 
ness is  often  not  dread  of  labor  in  general,  but  of  some  especial 
labor;  there  are  people  who  are  always  very  busy,  and  do 
everything  except  just  that  which  they  should  do.  (2)  The 
putting  off  from  to-day  to  to-morrow ;  many  letters  are  not 
written  because  the  paper  was  not  in  the  usual  place,  etc. 
(3)  Dread  of  the  beginning ;  when  the  work  is  once  begun, 
it  is  continued  with  a  certain  delight.  (4)  Diligence  of  idle- 
ness. Many  children  go  to  work  with  quick  energy,  not  from 
a  special  love  for  it,  but  to  get  through  with  it  and  back  to 
their  play  as  soon  as  possible.  We  find  similar  incidents 
among  adults.  Plutarch  mentions  that  many  soldiers  in  Otho's 
army,  foremost  among  them  the  Pretprians,  pressed  forth  to 
battle,  less  from  actual  bravery  and  courage  than  a  desire  that 
the  war  should  soon  end,  and  they  be  at  liberty  in  the  shortest 
possible  time  to  revel  in  the  pleasures  of  the  capital. 

We  said  above  that  with  regard  to  the  functions  of  motion, 
habitude  was  useful  in  causing  a  union  of  separate  parts.  In  a 
few  cases  it  must,  however,  separate  the  natural  connection  to 
prevent  a  useless  exercise  of  power.  The  sympathetic  motions 
can,  and  must,  occasionally  be  set  aside  by  practice  and  habi- 
tude. The  child  must  be  accustomed  to  give  one  impression 
time  to  take  root,  and  not  follow  it  immediately  by  a  corre- 
sponding action,  that  it  may  not  pass  away  with  that  action  into 
air.  Lazarus  also  says  :  "  Deep  thinking  requires  time ;  it  is 
therefore  a  great  pedagogical  mistake  if  teachers  —  as  is  now 
generally  done  —  urge  their  pupils  to  answer  rapidly,  and  praise 
those  who  immediately  have  an  answer  ready.  This  causes 


PROPERLY    ASSOCIATED    HABITS.  37 

everything  to  be  lowered  to  a  mere  effort  of  mechanical  memory. 
The  pupils  should  be  given  time  for  individual  contemplation, 
for  Jeep  and  energetic  thought-labor."  This  is,  however,  only 
relatively  true.  The  theorist,  it  is  true,  must  lay  less  stress  upon 
rapidity  than  on  the  profundity  of  thought ;  in  practical  life, 
however,  rapidity  of  decision  and  immediate  application  of  the 
knowledge  gained  are  of  immense  value ;  and  schools  have  to 
educate  not  only  theoretical  thinkers,  but  also  energetic,  practi- 
cal men. 

* 

Kussmaul  is  right  when  he  says :  "  All  human  education 
aims  at  the  control  of  inborn  and  acquired  reflexes  by  sensible 
and  rational  motives." 

( 2 )  HABITUDE  STRENGTHENS  POXYKK.  —  Every  member  of  the 
body  which  is  practised  grows  strong.  The  smith,  who  is  ac- 
customed to  swing  his  heavy  hammer  the  whole  day,  has 
stronger  arms  than  the  dancing-master  or  racer,  who  mostly 
exercises  his  feet.  The  laborer  who  lifts  heavy  burdens  can 
gradually  bear  greater  pressure,  and  the  athlet£,  Milo,  so  re- 
nowned in  ancient  times,  succeeded  in  carrying  a  steer  only  by 
beginning  with  a  small  weight,  and  gradually  increasing  it  to 
larger  ones.  The  influence  of  practice  is  best  shown  by  the 
right-handedness  of  most  people.  The  innervation-centres  of 
the  large  brain  are  adapted  for  all  manual  labor  in  a  double 
manner;  but  nevertheless  most  people  are  right-handed,  and 
use  the  left  brain  only  for  the  majority  of  handiworks.  If  those 
parts  of  the  right  side  of  the  brain  adapted  to  language,  but  not 
developed  functionally,  are  wanting  in  right-handed  persons, 
speech  will  nevertheless  be  retained,  as  those  of  the  left  hemi- 
sphere remain,  which  alone  have  been  practised.  Should  these 
also  be  lost,  aphasia  will  be  the  result.  Left-handed  persons 
must  grow  aphatic  if  the  lesion  enters  the  right  hemisphere. 
Both  facts  have  been  proved  by  experience. 

"  The  loss  of  speech  occasioned  by  lesion  of  the  one  hemi- 
sphere may  be  recovered  if  the  individual  practise  the  other 


38  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

side,  as  is  frequently  successfully  done,  in  case  the  ability  to 
write  is  lost  by  an  injury  to  one  of  the  hands."  —  Kussmaul. 
Wundt,  in  his  study  of  the  general  laws  of  central  functions, 
points  to  the  fact  that  the  fifth  main  principle,  that  of  "  prac- 
tice," is  especially  effective  in  connection  with  the  fourth,  that 
of  "  localized  functions,"  as  well  as  the  third,  the  "  substituting 
functions  "  ;  this  explains  the  fact  that  when  certain  parts  are 
injured  or  degenerated,  the  vicariate  of  others  will  only  begin 
slowly  and  gradually. 

In  the  same  way  the  acuteness  of  sensation  of  some  barbaric 
races  mentioned  above,  the  ability  of  painters  to  distinguish 
color,  of  musicians  sounds,  as  well  as  the  skill  of  any  artist,  is 
nly  possible  by  unremitting  practice  from  youth  on.  It  is  well 
known  how  Demosthenes,  by  stubborn  practice,  conquered  the 
drawbacks  of  a  feeble  body  and  a  defective  organ,  and  became 
a  great  orator.  Even  those  unfortunate  ones  who  are  debarred 
from  one  or  more  sensory  fields  may,  by  practice  and  concen- 
tration of  power,  accomplish  astonishing  performances  by  the 
aid  of  those  senses  left  them.  The  deaf,  mute,  and  blind  Laura 
Bridgman  reached  a  comparatively  high  grade  of  intelligence 
by  the  untiring  practice  of  her  sense  of  touch.  If  now  we 
turn  from  these  unfortunate  ones  to  the  "  favorites  of  the  gods  " 
who,  as  geniuses  endowed  by  nature  with  glorious  gifts,  have 
erected  for  themselves  monuments,  lasting  to  the  end  of  time, 
by  their  imperishable  works  in  science  and  art,  we  shall  recog- 
nize that  the  talent,  it  is  true,  was  the  condition  of  their  great 
deeds,  but  that  these  men  would  never  have  reached  so  high  a 
point  if  they  had  not  developed  and  enlarged  their  talent  by 
steady  practice  from  early  youth. 

Thus,  aside  from  the  manifold  dispositions  of  the  brain,  the 
finer  structure  of  a  sensory  organ  may  often  determine  a  certain 
talent  in  music  and  painting,  because  the  ease  of  its  function 
creates  a  desire  to  perform  it  further,  and  thus  leads  to  skill  and 
talent 


PROPERLY    ASSOCIATED    HABITS.  39 

Yes,  in  all  intellectual  actions  habit  strengthens  by  a  concen- 
tration of  power.  By  a  repetition  of  the  conceptions,  it  offers 
man  a  clearer  picture  of  the  external  real  world.  Pestalozzi,  in 
his  essay,  "  How  Gertrude  teaches  her  children,"  says  :  "  Chil- 
dren in  their  earliest  years  need  a  psychological  guidance  to  a 
rational  view  of  things.  We  should  restrict  ourselves  in  the  de- 
velopment of  their  mind  :  ( i )  To  widen  continually  the  circle 
of  their  conceptions.  (2)  To  impress  upon  them,  firmly  and 
distinctly,  the  conceptions  brought  to  their  consciousness.  (3) 
To  give  them  an  ample  knowledge  of  speech  for  all  with  which 
nature  and  art  have  made  them  acquainted.  The  preparations 
for  the  development  of  our  powers  are  principally  confined  to 
placing  before  us  in  a  smaller  circle,  and  in  a  regular  series, 
what  nature  presents  to  us  at  greater  distances  and  in  tangled 
relations,  and  bringing  it  closer  to  our  five  senses,  in  relations 
which  facilitate  and  strengthen  our  outer  and  inner  receptivity 
for  all  impressions,  and  raise  and  enlarge  our  senses  themselves, 
by  daily  presenting  to  them  the  objects  of  the  world  in  greater 
numbers,  more  durably,  and  more  correctly."  Spencer  says : 
"  If  the  education  of  the  senses  has  been  neglected,  all  later 
education  has  about  it  something-  sleepy,  blurred,  insufficient, 
which  it  is  impossible  ever  to  make  good  again.  The  man,  busy 
in  practical  life,  in  art  and  science,  needs  his  own  power  of  ob- 
servation, for  which  reason  it  should  be  already  developed  in 
the  child.  Object  lessons  should  not  only  be  given  in  a  way 
entirely  different  from  the  one  generally  used,  but  should  also 
be  extended  to  a  much  larger  circle  of  objects,  and  be  continued 
to  a  much  later  age  than  is  now  done.  They  should  not  be 
confined  to  the  contents  of  a  house,  but  include  all  that  fields, 
woods,  quarries,  and  the  seashore  offer.  They  should  not  cease 
with  early  childhood,  but  be  continued  during  youth  in  a  way 
which  gradually  and  imperceptibly  leads  to  the  investigation  of 
the  naturalist  and  the  scientist." 

(3)    HARirypy   |,itssF.va    THE    TiA^r^fftnsR    og    gynwr  ETV-.E- 


40  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

which,  in  consequence  of  the  limits  of  our  discursive  thinking, 
permits  only  a  few  conceptions  to  exist  simultaneously  in  our 
consciousness;  and  brings  the  separate  conceptions  by  their 
repetition  to  greater  clearness,  j 

The  inner  point  of  vision  has  the  quality  of  governing  by  suc- 
cessive apperception  a  larger  circle  of  conceptions.  Wundt 
looks  upon  twelve  simple  conceptions  as  the  maximum  of  con- 
sciousness for  relatively  simple  and  successive  conceptions. 

(4)  HABITUDE  STRENGTHENS  THE  MEMORY  AND  GENERALLY 

ENLARGES  THE  MENTAL  CAPACITY  OF  MAN. 


THE    INTELLECT.  4! 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   INTELLECT. 

MEMORY  AND   THE   IMAGINATION. PROCESS  OF  LOGICAL  THINKING. 

CONCEPTION   SERIES. LAWS   OF  THE   ASSOCIATION   OF  IDEAS. 

VARIOUS   TALENTS   RESULTING   FROM   A   COMBINATION   OF  THE 

IMAGINATION   AND  THE   INTELLECTUAL   FACULTIES. 

MEMORY  has  the  great  value  of  storing  material  and  holding 
it  in  readiness  to  be  worked  over  by  the  imagination  and  logical 
thinking.  Imaginatioji_cxeates  nothing  new,  but  it  brings  the 
elements  of  the  materials  gained  by  internal  and  external  expe- 
rience into  new  combinations.  Logical  thinking  likewise  creates 
nothing  absolutely  new,  but  it  allows  the  acquired  material  to 
dissolve  into  its  elements,  and  brings  these  into  new  relations 
with  each  other.  The  value  of  both  lies  in  the  original  and 
comparatively  new  manner  of  these  dissolving  and  combining 
processes.  Mental  action,  it  is  true,  should  not  remain  a  mere 
work  of  the  memory,  that  is,  an  accumulation  of  dead  matter ; 
the  received  material  should  be  digested  and  worked  over,  or- 
dered and  combined  by  independent  labor.  An  overburdening 
of  the  memory  renders  this  arranging  and  consummation  more 
difficult,  even  makes  it  impossible,  and  is  therefore  detrimental 
to  logical  thought  as  well  as  the  free  flight  of  the  imagination. 

Bain  says  :  "  We  can  engender  an  unnaturally  strong  memory 
at  the  expense  of  the  reasoning  or  the  imaginative  powers,  or 
even  the  disposition."  If,  however,  we  occasionally  speak  in  a 
derogatory  way  of  "  examinable  knowledge  "  in  general,  we 
should  remember  that  only  after  the  acquisition  of  rich  material, 
numerous  connections  may  be  gained,  and  the  "  far-sight  "  be 


42  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

developed.  Lazarus  says :  "  As  the  gods  of  the  Epicureans 
dwell  in  the  space  between  the  worlds,  so  the  thoughts  live  be- 
tween the  separate  elements,  that  is,  in  their  combination." 
True !  but  before  this  combination  can  be  made,  and  the 
thought  be  shown  a  dwelling-place,  the  elements  for  the  union 
must  have  been  gained  by  experience  and  study.  The  acquired 
material,  it  is  true,  need  not  always  be  "  examinable  "  in  order 
to  be  used  and  consumed,  but  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
in  practical  life  always  to  have  experience  and  knowledge  at 
hand.  Many  great  minds,  as  Leibnitz,  Lessing,  Kant,  Aris- 
totle, and  others,  distinguished  themselves  by  extensive  posi- 
tive knowledge,  and  showed  that  it  agrees  very  well  with  a  pow- 
erful mental  activity  and  productivity.  Leibnitz  even  took 
"  Clearness  in  words,  usefulness  in  matter  "  for  his  motto,  and 
sought  in  every  way  to  make  practical  use  of  his  learning  and 
thoughts.  J.  B.  Meyer  thinks  the  scientist,  as  well  as  the  poet, 
needs  the  power  of  imagination ;  and  Wundt  remarks  that 
neither  imagination  nor  mental  power  alone,  but  a  union  of 
both,  produces  talent  and  genius.  Bain,  in  "  Mind  and 
Body,"  speaks  of  the  number  of  impressions  man  can  bear  in 
memory.  Memory  shows  great  individual  differences,  which 
were  formerly  classified  in  a  very  superficial  way  after  their  ob- 
jects ;  they  distinguished  a  word,  number,  fact,  memory,  etc. 
It  is,  however,  better  to  take  the  number  and  energy  of  the  im- 
pressions into  consideration,  and  call  the  memory  (i)  compre- 
hensive, when  the  number  of  impressions  at  its  command  is 
large;  (2)  faithful,  when  it  reproduces  the  impressions  for  a 
long  time,  and  in  but  little  changed  aspect;  (3)  quick,  when 
it  can  rapidly  reproduce  impressions.  (A  faithful  and  a  quick 
memory  are  but  rarely  found  united  in  high  degrees.)  Further- 
more, we  distinguish  according  to  the  processes  active  in  the 
reproduction,  (#)  mechanical  memories,  which  rest  on  the 
association  of  ideas ;  and  (fr)  logical,  which  depend  on  the  logi- 
cal union  of  impressions.  The  former  is  specially  active  in 


THE    INTELLECT.  43 

youth  in  memorizing,  and  of  value  in  learning  languages,  etc.,  in 
the  main,  in  appropriating  matter.  Later  in  life  this  grows 
weaker,  and  the  logical  memory  takes  its  place ;  this  is  active 
in  the  study  of  scientists  and  preachers.  The  excellence  of 
memory  in  children  has  often  been  termed  the  first  measure  of 
talent 

/  Attentive  transcription  is  a  great  aid  to  memory,  as  by  the 
/distinct  placing  of  every  separate  element  in  writing,  the  entire 
f   series  of  perceptions  is  strengthened  and  confirmed ;  while  of 
I    hasty  taking  of  notes  we  may  still  say  as  of  old,, the  discovery 
/     of  writing  harmed  memory.     The  so-called. "  Mnemonics,"  or — 
\     art  of  memory,  which  is  said  to  have  been  discovered  by  the 
(Ireck  Simonides,  and  found  especial  honor  during  the  middle 
ages,  has  a  decidedly  bad  effect,  as  it  burdens  the  memory  with  . 
torr  many  unnecessary  minor  impressions.     Waitz   adds   that 
the   pupil  is  accustomed   by  mnemonics   to   view  and   mark 
everything   according   to   chance   external   combinations ;    he 
loses  or  weakens  his  sense  and  interest  for  the  comprehension 
of  the   internal   connection,  forms   more   or  less    mechanical 
aggregations  from  the  masses  of  his  thoughts,  and  is  thereby 
led  to  the  path  of  polymathy,  where  thoroughness  is  valued 
according  to  the  accumulated  masses,  and  man  feels  content 
in  this  continued  amassing,  instead  of  entering  the  course  of 
independent  thought  and   research.     Von   Rein  says :   "  The 
power  of  retention  is  practised  by  clear,  correct,  and  animated 
impressions ;   by  frequent  repetition  it   is  made   faithful^  by 
/  little  aids  and  Helps,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  association 
/    of  ideas,  the  power  of  memory  gains  a  skill  that  probably  ren- 
ders all  artificial  means  useless." 

By  the  aid  of  habitude,  the  experiences  and  knowledge  col- 
lected by  memory  are  arranged  and  brought  into  certain  "  con- 
ception series "  and  groups ;  they  confirm  and  secure  the 
various  combinations  of  conceptions,  and  facilitate  their  appli- 
ance to  practical  life  by  building  the  bridge  from  theory  to 
practice. 


44  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

Wundt  treats  of  the  various  methods  of  the  combination  of 
conceptions.  I.  Associative  combinations  :  among  which  he  not 
only  classes  those  of  conceptions  following  upon  each  other,  but 
also  those  in  general  which  are  produced  by  any  relations  of  the 
conceptions  to  each  other,  without  the  immediate  co-working  of 
the  apperception  (active  attention) .  He  distinguishes  :  i .  Sim- 
ultaneous association.  A,  Associative  synthesis.  The  composi- 
tion of  sound,  sight,  and  touch,  impressions  from  similar  ele- 
ments. In  intense  synthesis  a  number  of  similar  sensations 
intermingle ;  in  extensive  synthesis,  however,  similar  and  dis- 
similar sensations  unite.  A  conception  of  some  space  through 
the  eye  includes  :  (i)  light  impressions ;  (2)  fixed  local  signs 
of  the  retina;  (3)  motion  or  innervation  impressions.  B,  As- 
similation :  a  new  conception  enters  our  brain,  —  generally  an 
immediate  sensory  impression,  —  a  former  one  similar  to  it  is 
reproduced,  and  these  two  conceptions  now  mingle  into  one. 
C,  Complication :  combination  "  between  the  impressions  of 
disconnected,  locally  separated  sensory  divisions,"  that  is,  be- 
tween sight  and  touch  impressions,  sight  and  sound  sensations, 
etc.  2.  Successive  association.  Wundt  reduces  the  four  gen- 
eral laws  for  the  association  of  ideas,  embracing  similarity, 
contrast,  succession  of  time,  and  co-existence  in  the  same 
place,  to  two  —  inner  and  outer  (the  latter  including  succes- 
sion in  time,  and  co-existence  in  the  same  place)  ;  "  for,"  says 
he, "  the  contrast  depends  upon  the  emotion  connected  with  the 
impressions,  which,  moving  between  the  contrasts  of  pleasure 
and  displeasure,  transfers  these  to  the  impressions  themselves. 
Moreover,  a  relation  of  similarity  between  the  impressions  was 
never  wanting,  and  from  this  the  contrast  started."  II.  Apper- 
ceptive  combinations  (produced  and  governed  by  the  active 
attention),  i.  The  combination  of  simultaneous  thoughts. 
Ay  Agglutination  of  impressions  :  "  impressions  following  each 
other  unite  to  form  another  impression,  containing  the  first  two 
as  its  elements."  (See  Note  9.)  JB,  Blending  or  apperceptive 


THE    INTELLECT.  45 

synthesis,  that  is,  a  union  of  impressions  following  one  another, 
in  which  the  latter  no  longer  exist  in  the  new  conception  pro- 
duced by  their  union.  (See  Note  9.)  From  a  blending  of  ideas 
arise  the  shifting  and  condensing  of  impressions.  In  the  blend- 
ing processes,  every  new  element  which  is  admitted  eliminates 
some  of  earlier  date ;  in  the  agglutinative  unions  the  old  ele- 
ments are  retained,  though  new  ones  are  added.  Condensa- 
tion of  ideas  is  often  followed  by  the  reverse  process,  viz., 
the  analysis  of  the  produced  collective  impressions  into  a  series 
of  successive  ideas ;  the  dissolving  of  ideas :  this  may  take 
place  in  the  same  or  any  other  order  as  that  in  which  the  blend- 
ing of  the  separate  elements  proceeded.  A  dissolution  takes 
place,  especially  where  the  union  of  elements  has  become  so 
close  that  they  can  no  longer  be  distinctly  perceived  sepa- 
rately. (See  Note  10.)  C,  The  ideas.  2.  The  successive 
combination  of  thoughts  :  A,  the  simple ;  JB,  the  compound 
processes  of  thought. 

Oft-repeated  elements  stand  out  more  prominently  in  the 
separate  impressions ;  those  which  accord  well  with  each  other 
remain,  and  are  strengthened ;  the  incongruous  ones  are 
smoothed  over  and  blurred ;  thus  schematic  conceptions  and 
ideas  are  produced.  Wundt  defines  "  a  conception,"  accord- 
ing to  its  psychological  development,  as  "  the  complete  blend- 
ing, through  active  apperception,  of  a  ruling  single  impression 
with  a  series  of  connected  impressions."  Since  the  time  of 
Socrates,  thinking  in  conceptions  has  justly  been  looked  upon 
as  an  ideal,  as  it  permits  man,  notwithstanding  the  narrowness 
of  his  consciousness,  to  gather  a  number  of  phenomena  in  his 
conscious  mind  by  a  few  such  "  representative  concepts." 

Practice  makes  the  master  of  intellectual  activity,  and  causes 
thinking  to  become  easy,  so  that  many  things,  as  chess,  and 
heavy  literature,  which  cause  others  great  effort,  offer  recrea- 
tion to  the  practised  thinker,  just  as  the  peasant  boy,  used  to 
hard  labor,  looks  upon  bowling  as  a  recreation.  Fechner  says, 


46  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

"  according  to  the  measure  in  which  the  mind  grasps  higher  rela- 
tions, it  feels  a  stronger  need  of  employing  them,  and  is  more 
easily  bored  when  they  must  be  missed."  Special  dispositions, 
but  still  oftener,  frequently  repeated  mental  functions,  produce 
distinct  habits  of  thought ;  the  objects  are  viewed  in  a  certain 
way,  the  conceptions  combined  in  a  certain  manner,  and  thus 
artifices  of  thought  are  developed.  "Just  as  surely  as  every 
one  possesses  peculiarities  of  physical  action  which  distinguish 
him  from  his  fellow-men,  he  possesses  peculiarities  of  mental 
activity  which  give  their  distinct  character  to  his  conceptions. 
There  are  artifices  of  thought  as  well  as  those  of  muscular 
movement.  There  is  an  acquired  mental  skill  for  recognizing 
things  from  an  especial  point,  as  well  as  a  physical  dexterity 
for  developing  distinct  directions  of  bodily  power.  And  there 
are  intellectual  perversities  which  are  called  forth  by  a  certain 
treatment  of  the  mind  as  there  are  certain  incurable  physical 
awkwardnesses  which  result  from  certain  daily-repeated  ac- 
tions." People  who  have  an  especial  faculty  for  the  accumula- 
tion of  perceptions  rarely  care  to  generalize,  while  persons 
inclined  to  generalize  are  generally  such  as  mostly  use  the 
thoughts  of  others,  and  who  themselves  observe,  less  from  an 
interest  in  special  facts,  than  from  the  wish  to  make  use  of 
these  facts.  This  contrast  may  be  followed  in  yet  narrower 
limits  between  general  and  special  thinking.  Those  who  are 
inclined  to  far-reaching  speculations  rarely  pursue  with  success 
investigations  which  have  to  be  confirmed  by  separate  truths, 
while  the  scientific  specialist  generally  has  but  little  inclination 
to  busy  himself  with  wide  points  of  view.  This  will  suffice  to 
make  plain  that  formal  habits  of  thought  have  their  source  in 
special  forms  of  mental  action,  and  that  every  one's  habits  of 
thought  influence  his  judgment  of  every  question  placed  before 
him.  It  will  also  seem  clear  that,  in  proportion  as  the  ques- 
tion is  involved  and  many-sided,  the  habits  of  thought  must 
form  a  more  important  factor  in  their  effect  on  the  conclusion 
reached. 


THE    INTELLECT.  47 

Wundt,  in  his  lecture  on  psychology,  speaks  of  the  various 
forms  of  talent  resulting  from  a  combination  of  imagination 
and  intellect,  and  proposes  the  following  table  :  — 

I.  INDUCTIVE  FACULTY. 

, « ,• 

A.  Intuitive  imagination.  B.  Combining  imagination. 

I.  Talent  for  observing  (in  2.  Talent  for  inventing. 

every  field). 

II.  DEDUCTIVE  FACULTY. 

A.  Intuitive  imagination.  B.  Combining  imagination. 

3.  Talent  for  analyzing  (sys-  4.  Speculative  talent :  a.  phil- 

tematic  naturalist    and  osopher,  preponderance 

geometrician).  of  combining  imagina- 

tion ;  /•.  mathematician, 
preponderance  of  an- 
alyzing intellect. 

Often  several  of  these  forms  will  be  united  in  one  mind,  but 
rarely  the  higher  or  highest  grades  of  each.  Even  as  regards 
intuitive  imagination,  in  which  the  separate  impressions  possess 
great  liveliness  and  sensible  vivacity,  and  combining  imagina- 
tion, in  which  the  union  of  the  separate  elements  is  more 
prominent,  "  a  development  in  both  directions  to  any  great 
degree  is  very  rare,  for  the  greater  the  sensational  strength  of 
the  separate  imaginative  conceptions  is,  the  more  difficult  will 
it  be  for  the  perception  to  change  quickly  from  one  to  an- 
other." Still  more  is  this  the  case  in  a  union  of  imagination 
and  intellectual  disposition.  "Those  talents  especially  are 
rarely  united  which  imply  an  opposite  course  of  the  imagina- 
tion as  well  as  of  the  intellect,  such  as  the  observing  and  the 
speculative,  the  inventive  and  the  analyzing  talent."  Goethe 
possessed  the  first  and  second  of  the  above  forms,  but  he  was 
an  enemy  of  all  speculation,  especially  mathematics  ;  the  math- 
ematician Gauss  combined  the  third  and  fourth,  but  he  lacked 


48  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

the  power  of  observation ;  in  the  same  way  most  philosophers 
are  bad  observers.  Great  talent  is  mostly  one-sided,  as  in 
consequence  of  the  early  interest  in  a  certain  direction,  power 
concentrates  itself  more  and  more  in  that  direction,  and  the 
other  branches  are  thus  developed  less. 


THE   WILL.  49 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  WILL. 

INFLUENCE    OF    HABIT    ON   THE    ENTIRE    PSYCHOLOGICAL    LIFE. — 

VALUE     OF     ASSOCIATES     AND     ENVIRONMENT.  HABITUDE     OF 

PERSONAL    ACTION.  —  ADVANTAGES    OF    SCHOOL    VERSUS    HOME 
EDUCATION. 

"  HABITUDE  is  of  no  less  importance  to  the  will  than  to  the 
intellect.  Herbart  justly  draws  a  parallel  between  the  per- 
sistency of  impressions,  and  speaks  of  a  memory  of  the  will." 
He  investigates  its  importance  in  the  formation  of  firm  prin- 
ciples and  character,  and  says  :  "  This  much  is  certain,  a  person 
whose  will,  like  the  impressions  of  the  memory,  does  not 
without  effort  appear  the  same  whenever  the  cause  is  renewed 

—  who  must  come  back  to  his  former  resolve  by  contemplation 

—  will  have  great  trouble  in  forming  his  character.     And  it  is 
because  this  natural  perseverance  of  the  will  is  not  often  found 
in  children,  that  training  has  so  much  to  do  in  fjprming  it." 
Kern  says :    "  Training  must  supplement  the  disposition  with 
regard  to  the  memory  of  the  will."     Herbert  Spencer  writes  : 
"  Not  by  precept,  though  it  be  daily  heard ;  not  by  example, 
unless  it  be  followed ;  but  only  through  action,  which  is  often 
called  forth  by  the  relative  feeling,  can  a  moral  habit  be  formed. 
The  more  frequently  the  conscious  will  has  brought  the  con- 
ception-process into  a  certain  direction,  and  led  it  to  a  distinct 
action,  the  less  power  will  he  need  to  do  it  again ;  the  more 
easily  will  man  pursue  the  same  course  in  his  thoughts  and 
actions."     Leon  Dumont  says  :  "  The  will  has  two  forms  :  its 
action  is  either  an  inner  one,  and  points  to  conceptions  and 


5O  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

their  union  (apperception)  ;  or  an  external  one,  and  produces 
physical  motion.  The  former  is  the  original  one,  and  precedes 
the  other."  Wundt  writes  :  "  Under  favorable  conditions  the 
two  forms,  that  is,  the  apperception  of  an  impression  and  the  re- 
acting motion,  take  place  at  the  same  time.  By  saving  power 
and  strengthening  the  intellect  and  will-efforts,  habit  aids  us  in 
reaching  the  appointed  goal  with  greater  ease,  be  it  in  deep 
theoretic  thinking  or  in  the  energetic  actions  of  practical  life." 

Less  favorable  is  the  influence  of  habit  —  as  we  shall  see 
more  minutely  later  on  —  upon  the  emotions.  But  even  here 
it  is  not  without  value  :  with  regard  to  the  higher,  aesthetic  feel- 
lings,  habit  causes  a  liking  for  coarseness  gradually  to  recede, 
and  an  appreciation  of  the  finer  and  more  delicate  shades  to 
take  its  place,  as  the  relations  of  an  educated  ideal  life,  which 
permit  the  true  appreciation  of  a  work  of  art,  are  only  gained 
by  oft-repeated  impressions.  Religious  feeling  must  often  be 
strengthened  in  the  belief  and  joyous  trust  in  the  providence  of 
God,  and  thus  be  practised  before  Religion  can  become  the  real 
comforter  in  all  woes  of  life,  and  can  give  and  confirm  inner 
peace,  the  moral  feelings  receive  their  true  strength  only  by  the 
repeated  view  of  goodness  and  personal  good  actions. 

Habitude,  by  a  repetition  of  impressions  and  the  actions  fol- 
lowing them  as  reaction,  exercises  a  great  influence  on  the  entire 
psychical  life.  Aside  from  the  already  mentioned  favorable  effect 
which  habit  has  in  giving  the  continued  satisfaction  of  success  by 
a  summing  up  of  the  separate  feelings  in  every  mental  and  phy- 
sical labor,  the  constancy  ruling  within  it  lends  to  the  whole 
being  and  actions  of  man  an  individuaj  stamp.  All  physical 
actions  have  their  certain  pyschical  reflex,  which,  by  its  frequent 
repetition,  becomes  a  condition,  and  the  peculiarities  of  the 
repeated  thought,  emotion,  and  will  form  themselves  into  abid- 
ing characteristic  qualities. 

The  proverb  :  "  Evil  communications  corrupt  good  manners," 
is  known  everywhere.  Bad  associations  will  at  first  provoke 


THE    WILL.  51 

a  discord  in  the  soul  of  a  man  inclined  to  be  good ;  which  he 
attempts  in  most  cases  to  escape  by  assimilating  himself;  the 
company  becomes  endurable,  and  he  gradually  grows  bad  him- 
self. On  the  other  hand,  good  examples  in  Life  and  History 
have  a  vast  influence  on  the  soul  of  the  child  as  the  rage  for 
imitation  in  every  direction  is  strongest  in  early  youth.  Parents 
and  teachers  should  therefore  take  care  that  —  as  Plato  and 
Plutarch  justly  observe  —  they  themselves  as  well  as  the  sur- 
rounding company  set  the  child  a  good  example.  It  is  true  this 
is  not  always  possible  in  consequence  of  various  circumstances, 
for  what  Niemeyer  once  said  still  holds  good  :  "  If  among 
the  lower  classes  the  children  are  left  to  themselves,  and  must 
carry  on  their  games  in  summer  on  the  grass,  in  winter  in  court 
and  hall,  because  the  parents  are  busy  in  the  field,  in  the  work- 
shop, and  about  the  house ;  the  children  of  the  upper  classes 
must  depart  from  the  presence  of  their  parents,  because  these 
have  to  fulfil  their  day's  labor  in  the  assemblies,  at  the  dinners 
and  suppers,  at  balls,  in  the  theatres,  and  at  court.  The  nur- 
series of  the  higher  classes  are  the  meeting-places  of  nurses  and 
servants ;  in  the  most  favorable  cases  these  are  uneducated  and 
stupid,  in  less  favorable  ones  they  are  coarse  and  corrupt  people. 
The  mother  herself  is  often  kept  from  her  children  by  the  claims 
of  society.  "Those  families  are  therefore  justly  to  be  considered 
fortunate  in  which  intelligent,  unpretending  women,  educational 
assistants,  or  even  older  sisters,  can  at  such  times  share  the  care 
with  the  mother,  and  employ  the  little  ones  in  the  proper  way." 
Rousseau  puts  to  every  father  the  demand  to  educate  his  son 
himself,  so  that  "  hired  persons  "  may  not  gain  the  love  of  his 
child.  He  likewise  speaks  of  the  importance  of  keeping  all 
impure  impressions  at  a  distance.  "  It  is  very  desirable  that 
the  child  should  never  receive  any  impure  impressions  from  its 
surroundings,  as  these  impressions,  even  when  they  are  after- 
wards kept  down  by  an  energetic  will,  suddenly  reappear  in 
moments  when  the  will  is,  or  can  be,  less  effective,  and  with 


52  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

morally  good  persons  just  in  the  same  measure  in  which  they 
were  formerly  suppressed." 

.  Association  is  of  as  much  value,  especially  in  youth,  to  the 
.intellectual  as  to~the  moral  life.  Goethe  truly  says  in  "  Truth 
and  Fiction  "  :  "  The  academic  life,  even  if  we  cannot  praise 
our  actual  diligence,  offers  endless  privileges  of  education  in 
every  way,  because  we  are  ever  surrounded  by  men  who  possess 
science  or  are  in  search  of  it,  so  that,  though  it  may  be  uncon- 
sciously, we  gain  some  nourishment  in  such  an  atmosphere." 
Personal  intercourse  with  the  tutors  especially  offers  this  mental 
food  in  great  quantities,  a  fact  which  even  now  is  not  duly 
appreciated  by  the  students. 

Rousseau  speaks  of  the  benefit  derived  from  intercourse  with 
prominent  intellectual  men  in  Paris  :  "  Far  more  is  learned 
from  an  intercourse  with  the  authors  than  from  their  books. 
And  even  the  authors  are  not  the  ones  from  whom  most  is 
learned ;  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  society  which  develops  a  thinking 
brain,  and  widens  the  mental  horizon  as  much  as  possible." 

It  is  well  known  of  what  advantage  the  intercourse  and  good 
example  of  a  refined  society,  in  which  we  dare  not  "  indulge 
our  inclinations,"  is  to  the  formation  of  good  manners.  Man 
easily  adopts  the  manners  of  those  with  whom  he  frequently 
associates,  particularly  when  he  honors  and  loves  them ;  and 
what  was  formerly  but  a  strange  example  confronting  him, 
gradually  and  imperceptibly  becomes  his  own  thought  and 
action.  The  habitude  of_£ersonal  affian,  howcvert  has  ff  far 
gr^ater__£ffccLthan  the  good  freccfts  of  others. 

The  family,  the  parental  home  in  which  the  man  was  born 
and  spends  his  infancy,  is  where  he  receives  these  repeated 
impressions  !  There  is  a  vast  difference  between  a  man  who 
was  raised  in  a  thoroughly  moral  family,  and  one  who  spent  his 
youth  among  people  of  looser  morals,  even  criminals.  The  son 
of  a  professor  receives  manifold,  imperceptible  impressions 
even  in  childhood,  which  facilitate  and  hasten  his  intellectual 


THE    WILL.  53 

development ;  he  can  reach  the  appointed  goal  quicker,  and 
with  less  effort,  than  the  child  of  persons  whose  intellect  is  less 
developed,  who  must  gradually  outgrow  the  opinions  and  views 
adopted  in  childhood,  and  conquer  the  bad  influence  of  his 
surroundings  by  inherent  power.  The  child  of  parents  occu- 
pying a  high  social  position  will,  aside  from  the  influence  of 
inheritance,  be  early  advised  by  parents  and  teachers,  of  all  the 
requirements  of  social  life,  and  thus  soon  and  easily  acquires 
the  assurance  and  firmness  of  fine  manners ;  while  he  who 
grew  up  with  another  class,  and  spent  his  childhood  among 
uneducated,  even  rough  people,  will,  notwithstanding  all  his 
later  efforts  to  make  these  social  forms  his  own,  be  exposed  to 
many  slights  and  bitter  insults,  and  sometimes  experience  in 
his  own  life  the  truth  of  "  Naturam  expellas  furca  tamen  usque 
recurret "  !  As  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  social  state  of  the 
family  is  of  vast  importance,  so  also  the  love  of  order,  harmony, 
and  industry,  etc.,  reigning  there  will  exercise  a  great  influence 
on  the  child.  Plato,  in  several  of  his  works,  shows  that  the  best 
training  for  boys  and  youths  does  not  consist  of  precepts  and 
rules,  but  in  letting  them  continually  see  some  one  do  that  which 
he  admonishes  others  to  do ;  he  points  to  the  fact  that  those 
Persian  kings  who  were  born  on  the  throne  became  unfit  for 
rulers  in  consequence  of  their  effiminate  training,  while  others, 
like  Cyrus  and  Darius,  who  did  not  receive  this  effeminate 
education,  excelled  as  powerful  monarchs.  Wealth,  he  says, 
exercises  an  injurious  influence  on  the  soul ;  and  too  great 
poverty  drives  through  discomfort  to  shamelessness  ;  that 
amount  of  wealth  which  neither  entices  to  flattery  nor  compels 
want  is  the  most  desirable  in  his  opinion. 

Goethe  says :  "  Children,  as  aspiring  natures,  generally 
choose  at  home  the  example  of  him  who  seems  to  live  and 
enjoy  life  most.  They  see  in  a  father  who  makes  himself  com- 
fortable the  distinct  rule  according  to  which  they  must  arrange 
their  habits ;  and  because  they  gain  this  insight  early,  their 


54  HABIT   IN    EDUCATION. 

wishes  and  desires  mostly  grow  in  great  disproportion  to  the 
powers  of  the  house.  They  soon  find  themselves  limited  on 
every  side ;  the  more  so  as  every  new  generation  makes  new 
demands;  and  parents,  on  the  other  hand,  would  prefer  to 
grant  their  children  only  what  they  themselves  enjoyed  in 
former  times,  when  every  one  was  content  to  live  in  a  more 
temperate  and  simple  manner.  Subordinates  obey  no  one  more 
readily  than  him  who  rules  without  feeling  bound  by  his  own 
commands."  Waitz  says  :  "  Where  the  external  relations  render 
the  fulfilment  of  almost  every  wish  possible,  where  many  per- 
sons are  always  occupied  with  a  child,  one  of  whom  will  cer- 
tainly grant  what  the  other  refuses,  where  they  are  only  anxious 
to  keep  the  child  merry  and  friendly  for  the  present  moment, 
it  will  not  learn  to  subordinate  its  desires  to  a  higher  power,  for 
it  wants  the  experience  that  there  is  such  a  power,  which 
demands  subjection  without  fail ;  and  in  consequence  hereof, 
it  will  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  chance  play  of  sensual  desires, 
and  the  inner  discord  they  occasion."  Waitz  also  shows  that 
the  order  or  disorder  prevailing  in  the  house  are  unconsciously 
transferred  by  the  child  to  the  mental  and  moral  state  of  the 
world.  Not  unjustly  has  poverty  been  termed  the  school  of 
great  men,  only  it  must  not  be  too  severe  so  that  it  may  not 
depress  the  courage  of  man,  harm  his  character,  render  the 
education  of  his  faculties  impossible,  and  cause  him  to  perish. 
If  this  is  not  the  case,  narrow  circumstances  serve  to  encourage 
children  to  strive  to  attain  something  by  their  own  exertions, 
'  and  thus  strengthen  their  energy.  The  literature  of  ancient  >as 
well  as  modern  times  is  teeming  with  proofs  of  this  fact,  and  if 
we  wanted  to  mention  all  those  who,  in  more  practical  fields 
arose  from  limited  conditions,  their  name  would  be  legion  !  In 
^  these  men,  a  strong  confidence  in  their  own  power  is  devel- 
oped and  great  self-consciousness,  which  has  an  invigorating 
effect,  and  forms  a  powerful  stimulus  to  further  labor.  Modesty 
and  consideration  for  others  demand  that  this  self-consciousness 

J  J& 

tts*lSi<6-*siJ      Cx^  V<i<c*-^«>««^«-^-y^*--<-*^C^x^L^-  "^*c^v 
.  •*/       »  .7*     J*.*        ML*  ^  .    /    fj  sJ  / 


'  sU  +* 

:V^  THE    WILL.  55 

should  remain  unexpressed.  *  If  it,  however,  comes  out  more 
or  less  strongly,  its  cause  is  often  not  taken  into  consideration 
enough  in  judging  such  people. 

The  number  of  members  in  the  family,  the   age   and   sex  ,  , 
of  the  other  inmates,  the  religion  and  the  occupation  of  the  ..# 
father,  exercise  a  great  influence.     The  children  very  often  ^ 
enter  the  same  occupation  as  their  father,  because  they  earlv  '. 
become  accustomed  to  this  circle  of  thought.     The  daily  bust- ", 
ness  of  the  parents  is  often  spoken  about,  and  the  child  there-   " 
fore  early  grows  acquainted  with  all  the  impressions  connected 
therewith ;   it  imitates  those  occupations,  and  learns  to  love 
them,  even  before  it  is  able  to  understand  their  object.     The 
conditions  among  which  it  grows   up   decide  whether  in  its 
imagination  it  exercises  as  a  soldier,  or  busies  itself  with  books 
like  a  scholar,  begins  this  or  that  occupation,  etc.  —  IVaitz. 

The  influence  of  the  mother  on  the  soul  of  the  child  has 
justly  been  dwelt  upon  to  a  great  extent  in  prose  and  poetry, 
and  Pestalozzi  remarks :  "The  picture  of  its  mother,  which 
accompanies  it  everywhere,  becomes  itself  the  conscience  of 
the  child."  Of  greatest  importance  is  the  choice  of  playmates 
and  friends,  also  the  association  with  schoolmates  and  univer- 
sity students,  etc.  Waitz  writes :  "  Thus  obstinacy  and  per- 
verseness  are  more  easily  cured  by  schoolmates  than  even  by 
parents  and  teachers,  as  the  former  oppose  him  who  appears 
quarrelsome  and  moody  with  nothing  but  simple  inattention ; 
they  do  not  concern  themselves  about  him,  and  therefore  gen- 
erally see  him  among  themselves  again  in  a  short  time,  led 
back  by  his  social  wants.  Vanity  and  conceit  also  remain 
unheeded,  or  are  compelled  to  withdraw  in  shame  and  hide 
before  the  ridicule  of  their  companions.  Power  finds  its 
master,  and  is  thereby  saved  from  self-deception.  Awkward- 
ness is  laughed  at  and  thus  forced  to  attention  and  effort. 
Indolence  is  spurred  on,  effeminacy  forced  to  deny  itself. 
Diffidence  is  encouraged  to  come  forth.  Security  of  physical 


56  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

health,  rapid  and  versatile  progress  in  knowledge,  but  especially 
an  understanding  of  self,  and  a  power  of  self-control  in  thought 
and  action,  the  individual  can  only  acquire  by  a  life  in  com- 
pany with  others." 

This  good  influence  of  associates,  therefore,  forms  the 
principal  advantage  of  school-education  in  contrast  to  home 
education.  Pestalozzi  pointed  out  the  prominent  fact : 
"  Father's  and  mother's  punishments  rarely  make  a  bad  im- 
pression. A  wholly  different  effect  is  produced  by  the  punish- 
ment of  school  and  other  teachers.  While  in  the  family  love 
rules,  in  school  the  legitimacy  of  law  comes  to  the  front.  The 
advantages  which  private  education  offers,  the  consideration  of 
individuality,  and  the  rapid  progress  of  intelligence  do  not 
balance  the  advantages  which  a  school-education  offers.  The 
continual  supervision  in  the  former  is  not  always  useful ;  it 
may  even  be  harmful."  Bain  remarks :  "  The  presence  of  a 
large  assembly  exercises  an  electric  influence  on  the  individual 
and  arouses  it.  Every  effort  in  presence  of  a  visitor  is  hereby 
changed  and  deepened  in  its  character.  This  is  effected  in 
class  instruction,  and  the  drilling  of  large  masses  of  soldiers, 
because  all  strive  to  reach  the  general  level." 

Not  only  the  persons  among  whom  the  child  spends  the  first 
years  of  its  life,  but  the  entire  outer  environment  and  material 
relations  in  which  these  years  are  spent,  are  by  the  frequent 
repetition  of  certain  impressions  of  vast  importance  for  its 
intellectual  development.  The  condition  should  not  vary  too 
much  so  that  it  may  occasion  the  reproduction  of  the  same 
wishes.  They  should  furthermore  be  simple  enough  for  the 
child  to  see  through  them,  and  determine  whether  any  new 
relations  are  introduced,  or  merely  old  ones  involved.  Fre- 
quent change  of  the  condition  of  life  is  injurious  to  proper 
training  as  well  as  to  the  consolidation  of  a  train  of  thoughts. 
Jean  Paul  writes  in  his  autobiography  :  "  Truly  there  is  even  a 
greater  misfortune  than  to  be  at  the  capital,  and  that  is,  to  be 


THE    WILL.  57 

carried,  as  the  child  of  noble  parents,  for  years  through  foreign 
cities  and  among  strange  people,  and  to  know  no  other  home 
than  the  coach."  Lazarus  shows  that  by  far  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  Roman  authors  who  afterwards  attained  celebrity  were 
not  born  in  Rome  itself;  he  thinks  the  cause  of  their  greatness 
•may  be  found  in  the  impressions  of  their  early  youth  ;  the  child 
in  the  country  has  simpler  but  oft-repeated  impressions ;  hence 
they  endure  longer  and  the  psychical  actions  become  more 
concentrated  while  the  rapidly  changing  and  varying  impres- 
sions of  the  metropolis  are  more  volatile,  remain  a  less  time 
themselves,  and  yet  render  the  inner  concentration  more  diffi- 
cult. Lazarus  speaks  of  a  "  Tempo  of  Thinking,"  and  points 
out  that  people  who  perform  physical  labor  slowly,  also  think 
slowly ;  that,  furthermore,  country  people  who  are  known  for 
the  clumsiness  of  their  thoughts  excel  in  a  firmness  of  will,  and 
are  principally  the  ones  who  in  battle  "  stand  as  a  wall."  (On 
the  other  hand,  the  peculiarities  of  many  important  talents,  the 
rapid  change  of  motives  for  actions  as  well  as  thoughts,  may  be 
explained  by  the  great  variability  of  physical  life  in  general. 
Every  one  has  the  faults  of  his  virtues  !)  Too  great  umvield- 
iness  is,  however,  useless  and  harmful  in  life ;  to  many  peas- 
ant boys  the  years  of  military  drill  are  of  great  advantage  in 
lessening  the  clumsiness  of  their  movements  and  carriage,  as 
well  as  of  their  thoughts. 

We  may,  indeed,  find  that  the  large  intercourse  and  the 
varied  impressions  of  the  metropolis  mostly  educate  quick 
children  who  are  always  ready  with  an  answer,  show  no  diffi- 
dence, and  always  appear  self-conscious  in  conversation,  but 
who,  later  on,  excel  less  in  concentration  of  thoughts,  and  that 
a  quick  superficiality  is  considered  by  them  of  more  value  than 
great  depth  of  thought.  Do  not  many  scientists  withdraw  from 
the  noise  and  whirl  of  the  large  city  into  solitude  if  they  wish 
to  finish  a  work  requiring  clear,  sharp,  and  concentrated 
thought  ?  It  is  true,  we  must  remember  that  practical  life  also 


58  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

requires  presence  of  mind  and  quick  readiness.  Kern  justly 
remarks  that  "regularity  of  life  should  not  degenerate  iuu> 
monotony,  simplicity  into  want."  Lotze  writes  :  "  Monotony 
as  well  as  a  continual  change  of  impressions  provokes  a  dis- 
turbance of  the  train  of  thoughts,  desolation  and  dreamlike 
stupor  in  the  former ;  psychical  vertigo  and  want  of  control  in 
the  latter  case."  If  concentration  has  been  taught  in  youth,  a 
change  of  the  surroundings  will  prove  very  beneficial,  even 
necessary;  it  is  well  known  what  benefit  a  mature  youth  or 
man  derives  from  travelling,  which  causes  him  to  recognize 
other  conditions  than  those  prevailing  at  home,  and  thus  gives 
him  a  survey  of  life  and  strengthens  his  character  and  energy. 
"  Man  must  issue  forth  into  hostile  life,"  for  a  talent  may  be 
formed  in  "  solitude,"  but  a  character  only  in  "  the  rush  of  the 
world."  —  Tasso  and  Antonio. 

"  A  noble  man  cannot  in  narrow  bounds 
His  wisdom  gain.     Home  and  the  distant  world 
Must  influence  him.     Fame  and  reproach 
He  there  must  learn  to  bear  with  calm.     Self  and 
Others  is  he  taught  to  know  full  well.     No 
Longer  will  solitude  gently  soothe  him. 
Enemies  will  not,  friends  dare  not,  spare  him. 
Thus  while  struggling,  the  youth  gains  his  power, 
Feels  what  he  is,  and  feels  himself  a  man." 

Locke,  however,  truly  remarks  that  travelling  into  foreign  lands 
will  be  of  great  use  to  a  man  only  when  he  is  familiar  enough 
with  the  affairs  of  his  native  land  to  be  able  to  exchange  origi- 
nal opinions  and  personal  experience  with  the  people  he 
meets,  and  to  compare  and  combine  the  new  impressions  with 
those  already  acquired. 

After  the  education  of  a  youth  has  been  completed,  the  actions 
of  the  chosen  vocation  bring  man  impressions  which  by  fre- 
quent repetition  grow  and  give  him  an  individual  stamp.  It 
has  occasionally  been  found  that  in  laborers  their  occupation,  as 


THE   WILL.  59 

well  as  the  circumstances  surrounding  these,  exercised  a  dis- 
tinct psychical  reflex,  which  in  consequence  of  the  repetition 
gradually  became  a  characteristic  quality.  The  mercurial  bar- 
ber has  different  characteristic  qualities  from  the  butcher  or 
cooper  or  smith.  Lazarus  even  thinks  that  the  volatileness,  the 
inclination  to  busy  themselves  with  politics,  and  other  qualities 
which  tailors  show,  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  they  have 
light  and  rapid  work  which  occupies  only  their  hands  and  dur- 
ing which  they  can  speak  and  sing,  while  the  shoemaker,  who, 
in  consequence  of  his  labor  with  wire  and  frequent  drawing  and 
stretching  of  the  leather,  can  talk  less  and  only  think  —  inclines 
more  to  mystic  and  philosophic  reflections.  The  dancing-mas- 
ter and  artist  differ  in  character  from  the  silent  thinker.  The 
farmer  and  laborer  accustomed  to  physical  labor,  as  well  as  the 
merchant  who  moves  mostly  in  practical  life,  have  a  different 
view  of  life,  and  look  upon  everything  from  a  more  practical 
standpoint  than  the  teacher  or  scholar  who  is  accustomed  to 
indulge  in  profound  thoughts  and  reflections  and  speculations 
about  the  value  of  his  ideal  mental  possessions.  The  lawyer 
who  by  his  business  remains  in  more  frequent  intercourse  with 
the  outer  world  is  generally,  like  the  officer,  a  better  social  com- 
panion than  the  theoretical  thinker  who  spends  most  of  his  time 
in  study  over  his  books.  He  who  would  care  to  write  a  psy- 
chological investigation  of  the  peculiarities  of  military  character 
could  not  only  show  that  the  dexterity  of  the  officer  in  social 
forms  is  connected  with  the  precision  and  rapidity  of  move- 
ment acquired  in  his  official  activity,  but  also  that  the  strong 
class-feeling,  aside  from  the  influence  of  inheritance  and  sur- 
roundings, is  largely  due  to  the  erect  carriage,  to  the  close-fit- 
ting dress  —  which  with  the  body  also  holds  the  soul  together. 
Every  one  can  easily  observe  how  much  freer  and  braver  he 
will  feel  while  walking  erect  in  the  open  air  than  while  at  work 
in  his  study  or  office.  Fechner  attempts  to  show  us  that  an 
imitation  of  the  physical  expression  of  a  foreign  mental  condi- 


6O  HABIT   IN   EDUCATION. 

tion  will  teach  us  to  understand  the  latter  much  better  than  a 
mere  view  of  this  expression. 

The  repetition  of  certain  actions  and  functions  caused  by 
habit  is  what,  next  to  the  degree  of  education,  creates  the  opin- 
ion of  rank,  and  causes  the  different  classes  to  have  different 
views  of  the  world  and  life  in  general.  The  same  will  also  be 
seen  in  the  history  of  nations.  At  all  times  there  were  distinct 
national  characters  which  were  caused  in  part  by  the  influence 
of  climate  and  nature  in  general,  by  the  degree  of  enlightenment, 
etc.,  but  principally  by  the  habits  continued  through  many 
generations.  The  Athenian,  cherishing  arts  and  science  and  the 
ideals  of  life,  thought  differently  from  the  Spartan,  who  espe- 
cially prized  physical  strength  and  hardihood,  or  the  world-con- 
quering Roman,  who  managed  political  life  with  so  much  energy. 
The  volatile  and  social  Frenchman  is  in  general  less  accustomed 
to  deep  thinking  and  firm  wishing  than  the  German,  and  the 
German  is  far  outstripped  in  practical  sense  by  the  Englishman 
and  American,  who  are  more  active  in  commerce  and  manu- 
facturing. Buckle  in  his  work,  "  History  of  Civilization  in 
England,"  speaks  of  the  importance  of  uninterrupted  labor  in 
the  formation  of  national  character.  He  says :  "  Inhabitants 
of  the  Frigid  Zone  never  show  the  striving  industry  met  with  in 
the  Temperate  Zone.  By  want  of  light,  and  the  severity  of 
winter,  they  are  compelled  to  give  up  their  work.  The  classes 
otherwise  working  are  hence  inclined  to  disorderly  habits,  and 
the  national  character  shows  perverseness  and  moodiness. 
Thus  in  Sweden  and  Norway,  where  the  severe  cold  and  short- 
ness of  the  days,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  in  Portugal  and  Spain, 
where  heat  and  drought  often  interrupt  the  labor,  the  national 
character  evinces  unsteadiness  and  fickleness  in  marked  con- 
trast to  those  who  in  a  temperate  climate  have  no  cause  to 
interrupt  their  labor."  Roscher  says  :  "  No  people  will  surpass 
the  English  and  Anglo-Americans  in  labor-energy,  the  Germans 
in  labor-comprehension,  and  the  French  in  labor-taste."  The 


THE    WILL.  6l 

difference  between  the  impressions  and  the  whole  psychical  life 
of  the  sexes  is  caused  partially  by  distinct  physical  impressions 
by  the  earlier  or  later  development,  but  also  by  the  difference 
of  position  in  life  and  social  intercourse  as  well  as  all  the  expe- 
riences called  forth  thereby.  Women  have  a  greater  inclination 
for  the  concrete  than  men  because  they  are  more  dependent 
upon  it  from  youth  up.  Girls  gather  less  mental  store  than 
boys,  and  use  it  more  rapidly  but  with  less  diversity  and  divis- 
ion. Spencer  goes  even  farther,  and  explains  characteristic 
peculiarities  of  women  in  the  Darwinian  way,  by  saying  that  in 
former  times  the  women  possessing  these  particular  qualities  in 
greater  degrees  than  others  found  more  approval  and  were 
chosen  for  the  propagation  of  the  species,  whence  these  qualities 
were  transmitted  by  inheritance,  and  during  a  continuance  of 
the  favorable  circumstances  were  brought  to  greater  promi- 
nence. 

It  is  plain  that  under  otherwise  similar  circumstances,  among 
women  who  lived  by  the  favor  of  the  men,  those  who  succeeded 
best  in  pleasing  were  most  likely  the  ones  who  remained  alive. 
And,  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  prevailing  transmission 
of  habits  on  one  side,  it  will  lead  in  a  series  of  generations  to 
the  effect  that  a  special  striving  after  praise,  and  the  ability  of 
developing  the  whole  nature  for  this  purpose,  appears  as  a  dis- 
tinctly feminine  trait.  In  a  similar  way,  the  wives  of  cruel 
savages  under  like  circumstances  must  have  had  an  easy  time 
in  proportion  to  their  ability  to  hide  their  feelings.  ...  In 
some  cases,  again,  the  arts  of  persuasion  enabled  woman  to 
protect  herself  and  children,  where  a  lack  of  these  arts  would 
have  caused  her  to  disappear  early.  A  further  ability  may  be 
called  the  power  of  quickly  distinguishing  the  volatile  feelings 
of  those  surrounding  her.  A  woman  who,  in  barbarous  times, 
could  immediately  detect  the  rising  passion  of  her  wild  husband 
by  the  tone  of  voice,  a  slight  motion,  or  the  expression  of  his 
face,  probably  escaped  dangers  which  a  woman  less  able  to 


62  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

understand  the  natural  language  of  emotion  was  obliged  to 
endure.  From  the  continued  practice  of  this  ability,  and  the 
success  of  those  possessing  it,  we  may  infer  that  it  took  root  as 
a  distinctly  feminine  trait.  .  .  .  The  effect  which  the  show  of 
power,  of  whatever  kind,  by  men,  has  on  the  affections  of 
women,  is  widely  discussed  by  Spencer.  He  thinks  that 
among  women  of  unequal  taste,  those  who  were  charmed  by 
manly,  physical,  or  mental  power,  and  married  men  able  to 
protect  them,  enjoyed  longer  life  than  those  pleased  with 
weaker  men.  To  this  inevitable  admiration  for  power  may  be 
ascribed  the  fact  which  has  caused  so  much  discussion :  that 
women  generally  care  more  for  men  who  maltreat  them  if  the 
rudeness  is  accompanied  by  physical  power,  than  for  weaker 
men  who  treat  them  well.  With  the  progress  of  culture,  the 
admiration  for  physical  power  gradually  changed  into  that  for 
mental  power  in  every  field,  and  from  this  developed  the  feeling 
of  reverence  in  viewing  all  that  which  betrays  conspicuous 
power  or  ability,  —  the  respect  for  authority,  etc.  In  this  way 
we  can  also  explain  the  inconsistency  of  women,  their  skill  in 
quickly  turning  any  action  another  way,  and  giving  to  their 
own  expressions,  as  well  as  those  of  others,  a  meaning  suitable 
to  the  time,  but  often  entirely  different  from  the  original  one. 
For,  as  they  could  well  use  these  little  aids  in  reconciling  their 
angry  husbands,  these  qualities  have  gradually  been  inherited 
and  strengthened,  and  thus  grown  the  lasting  possession  of  the 
sex.  What  in  social  life  we  call  "  custom  "  is  nothing  more 
than  the  habit-of-action  of  a  large  majority  continued  for 
several  generations. 


SPECIAL   HABITS.  63 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SPECIAL   HABITS. 

CLEANLINESS.  —  PUNCTUALITY.  —  NEATNESS.  —  ENDURANCE,    — 

SELF-CONTROL. OBEDIENCE.  POLITENESS.  —  ATTENTION. 

DILIGENCE. UNSELFISHNESS. CALISTHENICS.  —  STUDY. 

IF,  now,  we  examine  the  various  habits,  we  shall  find  that, 
according  to  our  definition,  there  are  as  many  different  kinds 
as  there  are  physical  and  mental  functions.  We  might,  perhaps, 
divide  them  into  I.  Physiologic  dispositions  and  their  com- 
bination in  sensific  parts  of  the  nervous  system ;  therefore, 
habits  of  action:  (i)  the  senses,  (2)  the  memory,  (3)  the 
intellect,  the  association  of  ideas,  (4)  the  will  as  controller  of 
the  impressions.  II.  Dispositions  and  their  combinations  in 
motory  centres,  therefore,  practices  of  voluntary  and  involun- 
tary motions.  These  could  again  be  divided  either  according 
to  the  organs  which  they  affected  :  (i)  organs  of  speech,  (2) 
arms,  hands,  and  fingers,  (3)  legs  and  feet;  —  or  according  to 
the  centres  in  which  they  originated:  (i)  spinal  cord,  (2) 
brain.  III.  A  union  of  both  the  truly  mental  (intellectual) 
and  the  motific  functions  (combination  of  sensitive  with  motory 
parts).  Biran  and  Rosenkranz  distinguish  active  and  passive 
habits ;  the  former  strengthen  the  spontaneity,  the  latter  change 
the  organism  itself  by  impressions  received,  and  bring  it  into 
accordance  with  them.  To  consider  them  all  would  carry  us 
too  far  and  beyond  the  limits  set  for  this  work,  we  dare  not 
even  here  splinter  our  strength,  and  must  try  to  economize. 
Therefore  we  will  take  up  only  those  habits  which  are  of  special 
importance  in  actual  education. 


64  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

Very  early,  even  from  its  birth,  the  child  is  to  be  accustomed 
to  cleanliness  and  neatness,  first  passively,  then  actively.  Clean- 
liness is  not  only  of  the  utmost  importance  with  regard  to  health, 
but  exercises  an  influence  on  the  whole  mental  life.  Mere 
physical  cleanliness  is  followed  by  its  psychical  parallel.  Spen- 
cer even  says :  "  Dirt  is  generally  accompanied  by  an  incli- 
nation towards  crime.  Cleanliness  creates  a  fancy  for  order 
and  regularity  in  general,  which  education  must  develop  by 
forming  habits  of  punctuality  and  neatness.  Both  are  of  equal 
importance,  though  Curtman  would  place  habits  of  punctuality 
even  before  those  of  neatness." 

Women  generally  have  a  predilection  for  harmonious  arrange- 
ments as  regards  space,  while  men  place  more  value  on  punctu- 
ality. Besides  observing  regular  hours  for  eating,  the  child 
should  be  accustomed  to  a  proper  division  of  time  as  re- 
gards work  and  rest :  it  must  learn  to  keep  things  in  order. 
Furthermore,  the  child  should  early  be  inured  to  bear  unpleas- 
ant things,  so  that  the  man  may  bear  severe  physical  and 
mental  labor,  and  pain  of  every  sort  with  greater  ease.  The 
feeling  of  physical  health  and  strength  is  the  surest  foundation 
for  the  characteristic  qualities  of  courage,  resolution,  and  discre- 
tion ;  emollition  of  the  body  is  often  followed  by  debility, 
and  renders  self-control  far  more  difficult,  while  physical  exer- 
tion and  hardening  form  a  good  preparatory  school  for  mental 
energy,  steadfastness,  and  firmness  towards  self;  and,  when 
proceeding  from  a  free  will,  already  presuppose  a  certain  degree 
of  the  latter.  The  educational  influence  in  hardening  the 
organism  should  render  it  capable  of  bearing  the  influences 
of  climate,  of  bodily  pain,  and  physical  exertion.  Ruegg  well 
notes  that  special  diversion  of  attention  helps  to  bear  a  pain. 
A  child  cries  more  when  it  is  pitied  for  some  slight  accident, 
and  requested  to  show  the  painful  place ;  if  its  attention  is 
diverted  to  something  else,  it  will  soon  forget  the  pain.  Cicero 
says  that  next  to  reflexion  a  tension  of  the  mind  and  energy  of 


SPECIAL    HABITS.  65 

will  helps  to  conquer  the  pain,  as  straining  the  physical  powers 
helps  to  bear  weights  with  greater  ease.  Kant  thinks  the  mind 
can  conquer  its  sickly  emotions  by  a  mere  resolve.  In  habitu- 
ating a  child  to  bear  physical  pain  we  should,  however,  not  say 
to  the  child,  "  It  does  not  hurt,"  for  it  feels  the  pain  very  dis- 
tinctly, and  notices  that  the  adult  is  trying  to  quiet  it  with  a 
lie ;  we  should  say,  "  It  only  hurts,"  and  thus  teach  it  to  feel 
a  contempt  for  pain.  Since  the  Doric  race  made  physical 
training  a  main  principle  of  education  in  contrast  to  the  effem- 
inate training  of  the  Oriental  Greeks,  various  authors  investi- 
gated its  worth,  and  its  importance  is  as  well  recognized  by 
civilized  nations  as  proven  to  uncivilized  ones  by  practice. 

The  child  should,  however,  not  only  be  accustomed  to  per- 
form strong  and  powerful,  but  also  fine,  functions.  It  must 
gradually  learn  to  control  the  vehement  expression  of  its  feelings. 
Jean  Paul  says  :  "  Children  share  with  weak  persons  the  inability 
to  cease."  Every  one  knows  that  children  who  have  once  begun 
laughing  or  crying  cannot  be  quieted  for  some  time,  while  the 
small  cause  thereof  is  in  no  proportion  whatever  to  the  length 
of  these  emotional  eruptions.  It  is  in  most  cases  not  stubborn- 
ness or  obstinate  will  which  the  child  shows,  but  the  inability  to 
suppress  its  emotions ;  this  inability  education  must  do  away 
with ;  it  should  not  be  permitted  to  become  permanent,  as  it 
has  unfortunately  done  in  many  cases,  as  is  evinced  by  the 
gossipping  and  lamenting  of  many  adults,  particularly  women. 
Even  men  find  it  difficult,  sometimes  impossible,  to  suppress  a 
hearty  laugh  at  slight  causes,  though  it  occasion  them  great  un- 
pleasantness. 

The  child  should  control  its  motion  and  learn  to  sit  still ;  but 
it  must  learn  at  the  same  time  to  be  active  when  required,  and 
not  to  permit  its  psychical  functions  to  be  interrupted  by  an 
unexpected  impression  and  new  relations.  It  shall  therefore 
lose  the  extreme  diffidence  and  bashfulness  that  are  caused  by 
the  interruption  of  a  psychical  process,  which  otherwise  proceeds 


66  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

undisturbed.  A  strong  and  unexpected  emotion  lengthens  — 
as  has  been  shown  by  experiment  —  the  time  of  reaction,  that 
is,  the  duration  of  the  nervous  process  which  takes  place 
between  the  reception  of  an  impression  and  the  reaction  that 
follows  it,  by  checking  the  activity  of  the  will.  It  is  the  same 
phenomenon  which,  in  a  stronger  degree,  is  characterized  as 
terror.  —  Wundt. 

Exner,  however,  states  that  the  time  of  reaction  may  be 
shortened  by  practice.  The  length  of  the  apperception  of 
complex  impressions  is  greatly  diminished  by  continued  prac- 
tice. To  prevent  the  ability  to  become  active  from  degenerat- 
ing into  officiousness  it  must  be  combined  with  modesty  and 
humility. 

A  union  of  these  qualities,  as  well  as  the  action  of  each  at  the 
proper  time,  produces  the  habit  of  obedience,  which  should 
begin  as  soon  as  the  will  of  the  child  begins  to  form  itself. 
Rousseau  very  properly  remarks,  in  answer  to  Locke,  that  one 
should  not  explain  the  reasons  for  a  command  to  a  child,  not 
argue  with  it ;  the  child  will  not  comprehend  the  reasons,  and 
the  long  argument  have  a  far  different  effect  from  what  it 
was  intended  to  have.  It  will  either,  as  mostly  happens,  grow 
monotonous,  and  permit  other  thoughts  to  arise,  or  its  sound 
will  have  a  pleasant  effect  on  the  child  without  causing  it  to 
realize  the  serious  content.  Locke,  it  is  true,  says  that  we 
should  explain  the  reasons  in  a  manner  and  form  comprehen- 
sible to  the  child ;  but  this  is  exceedingly  difficult,  often  even 
impossible,  and  reasoning  with  the  child  had  best  be  avoided 
altogether.  .  .  .  The  disposition  and  character  of  children  are 
only  rarely  formed  by  much  reasoning  and  proofs  of  what  is 
good,  right,  and  duty.  "The  different  wish  of  the  educator  must 
appear  to  the  child  as  a  firm,  invincible  power  against  which 
its  self-will  is  absolutely  powerless.  .  .  ."  Francke  thinks  we 
should  implant  three  things  especially  into  the  child's  mind :  i. 
Love  of  truth ;  2.  Obedience ;  3.  Love  of  work. 


SPECIAL    HABITS.  67 

Admonitions  and  reproofs  often  lose  their  aim  by  being  too 
long,  for  the  child  in  the  meantime  entertains  other  thoughts  or 
picks  up  especial  points  against  which  it  chances  to  be  opposed, 
and  in  its  mind  delivers  a  speech  of  defence  by  which  it  is 
finally  entirely  convinced  of  its  right.  Lazarus  mentions  a  case 
in  which  a  father  attempted  to  explain  the  outrage  of  its  be- 
havior to  a  child  that  had  been  making  a  noise  during  its 
mother's  sickness.  The  child  listened  attentively  to  the  long, 
well-set  speech  and  at  its  end  said  to  his  father,  "  Say  that 
again  " ;  the  sound  of  the  speech  had  pleased  the  child,  not- 
withstanding it  had  not  understood  anything  of  its  import  or  taken 
it  to  heart  at  all.  A  similar  result  of  lengthy  speeches  has  often 
been  noticed  among  uncivilized  nations  though  the  language 
was  unintelligible  to  the  hearers,  yes,  even  if  it  had  no  log- 
ical sense.  We  shall  find  parallel  to  most  observations  in 
the  nursery,  in  the  mental  life  of  uncultivated  people,  and  the 
psychological  studies  made  at  both  places  are  complementary. 
The  command  given  to  a  child  should  be  short  and  decided, 
not  permitting  a  recall ;  the  child  must  learn  to  look  upon 
obedience  as  a  stern  necessity,  the  authority  of  him  who  uttered 
the  command  as  an  absolute  power  against  which  it  can  accom- 
plish nothing.  Only  in  this  manner  will  it  gain  any  respect  for 
authority,  whether  it  be  exercised  by  parents  and  teachers,  or  in 
later  life  by  law,  custom,  and  persons  in  a  higher  position.  But 
here  also  the  age  of  the  pupil  should  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion ;  the  older  pupil  and  youth  should  not  be  entirely  deprived 
of  the  reasoning  and  converse  which  are  not  given  to  the  child. 
It  has  been  truly  observed  that  Kant's  morals,  by  the  rigid 
severity  in  the  execution  of  the  idea  of  duty,  by  the  decisiveness 
and  independence  of  the  moral  demands  greatly  advanced  the 
training  of  men  in  Prussia,  and  thus  assisted  in  the  stern  politi- 
cal regeneration  of  Germany. 

Hence  the  sense  for  propriety  and  a  refined  bearing  should 
early  be  impressed  upon  the  child.  Although  we  can  give  the 


68  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

reasons  for  its  laws  in  general,  this  often  can  not  be  done  with 
distinct  cases.  Though  we  do  not  place  so  much  value  on  a 
refined  bearing  as  Locke  who  aimed  at  the  education  of  an 
aristocrat,  though  we  would  train  the  pupil  rather  to  deep, 
clear,  and  precise  thinking  and  energetic  action,  than  form 
him  into  a  society  dandy  or  hollow  talker,  yet  the  ability  of 
never-lacking  tact  in  our  intercourse  with  various  persons,  and 
not  offending  by  bad  manners,  is  of  some  importance.  We  do 
not  mean  to  say  that  the  child  should  be  invited  to  parties  and 
soirees,  and  that  it  must  forever  be  in  the  company  of  older 
persons.  The  former  renders  the  child  unaccustomed  to  hard 
work,  lessens  its  pleasure  in  action,  and  permits  a  fondness  for 
a  mere  life  of  pleasure  to  develop  very  early ;  the  latter  makes 
the  child  precocious  and  spoils  its  pleasures  of  youth.  Con- 
tinued supervision — as  Herbart  already  showed  —  is  not  of 
much  use.  Companions  and  schoolmates  during  the  time  for 
recreation  often  have  a  better  influence  on  the  mental  develop- 
ment of  the  child  than  the  teachers  with  their  steady  admoni- 
tions and  rules.  Parents  who  possess  ready  tact,  especially 
mothers,  can  awaken  the  sense  of  politeness  in  the  soul  of  the 
child  without  exposing  it  to  the  above  hurtful  influences.  Good 
behavior,  that  is,  the  union  of  habits  —  the  controling  of  invol- 
untary motions  and  emotions,  the  ability  to  be  passive  or  active 
at  the  proper  time,  to  lose  excessive  bashfulness  and  still  remain 
modest,  the  flexibility  of  the  limbs  as  well  as  ease  and  refine- 
ment in  all  functions  —  is  not  only  useful  in  pleasing  people 
and  occasionally  facilitating  the  accomplishment  of  a  certain 
practical  end,  but  the  firmness  and  security  resulting  therefrom 
is  of  vast  importance  for  the  psychical  life  in  general.  Waitz 
shows  that  he  who  as  a  child  excels  among  children  through 
the  suppleness  of  his  body  and  the  grace  of  his  outer  bearing, 
which  is  closely  connected  with  the  former,  will  mostly  turn  out 
to  be  enterprising,  independent,  a  leading  personage,  while  the 
awkward  one  is  much  ridiculed,  often  put  aside,  only  rarely 


SPECIAL    HABITS.  69 

sought  for  by  others  as  companion,  whence  he  gradually  adopts 
the  good  or  evil  qualities  of  the  hermit,  viz.  patience,  modesty, 
resignation,  or  sensitiveness,  suspiciousness,  pleasure  at  the 
misfortunes  of  others,  etc.  Even  among  grown  persons  the 
greater  or  less  ease  of  which  they  are  conscious  in  their  move- 
ments determines  whether  or  not  they  feel  at  home  in  society, 
how  far  they  will  give  up  to  it,  or  treat  it  with  reserve,  how 
much  of  what  it  offers  they  will  receive,  with  what-  degree  of 
pleasure  they  seek  society,  and,  what  is  most  important,  what 
society  this  is.  Luys  connects  the  fineness  of  psychical  feeling 
with  the  fineness  of  the  skin  and  the  touch-impressions  thus 
received.  It  is  well  known  that  women  in  general,  but  partic- 
ularly those  leading  a  life  of  leisure  and  not  using  their  hands 
for  rough  work,  have  a  fine,  tender  and  sensitive  skin  ;  the  sen- 
sory nerves  are  more  exposed  and  open  to  all  external  irritation. 
Touch  and  feeling  are  continually  in  a  state  of  vibrating  tension, 
and  thus  the  mind  receives  numberless  perceptions  and  touch- 
recognitions  which  usually  remain  entirely  unnoticed  by  man. 
Hence  in  women  of  refined  society,  but  also  in  men  having  a 
sensitive  skin,  the  development  and  expression  of  mental  abil- 
ities keeps  step  with  the  development  and  fineness  of  the  sensi- 
bility of  the  skin.  Fine  feeling  becomes  almost  a  second  sight, 
so  that  the  mind  feels  and  sees  fine  shades  of  difference  which 
remain  hidden  from  most  men.  On  this  is  founded  the  im- 
portant moral  feeling  known  as  soul-feeling.  With  individuals 
of  tender,  easily-irritated  skin,  whose  sensorium  like  a  drawn 
string  is  ready  to  begin  vibrating  on  the  slightest  shock,  it  is 
characteristically  developed.  Compare  with  these  the  work- 
man who  handles  his  heavy  tools  and  bears  burdens :  with 
him  the  skin  is  thick,  and  between  the  network  of  sensory  nerves 
and  the  bodies  affecting  them  lie  dense  epithelial  layers. 
Study  the  intellectual  and  moral  sensibility  here,  and  you  will 
find  that  there  is  none  of  that  delicate  feeling  which  lends  a 
peculiar  character  to  the  mental  bearing  of  individuals  with  a 
fine  skin. 


7O  HAEIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

When  the  child  enters  school,  the  latter  should  strengthen, 
confirm,  and  develop  the  habits  mentioned  before.  To  these 
are  added  other  habits,  especially  that  of  attention.  In  the 
beginning  the  child  has  no  active,  but  only  passive  attention, 
that  is,  in  the  rapid  change  of  the  manifold  impressions  and 
reminiscences  it  will  turn  to  the  strongest  one.  This  is  to  be 
first  used  and  gradually  transformed  into  active  attention,  which 
is  able  to  •hoose  among  the  impressions  and  received  concep- 
tions, leave  the  strongest  unnoticed  at  times,  and  firmly  fix  in 
its  place  a  weaker  conception,  which  has  more  or  less  connec- 
tion with  others,  or  which,  even  without  these  connections,  is 
required  at  the  given  moment.  Waitz  says  :  "  The  child  origi- 
nally possesses  no  power  by  which  it  can  give  its  train  of  thoughts 
a  certain  direction,  retain  it  in  such  an  one,  or  turn  it  away 
therefrom ;  it  is  led  on  entirely  by  the  external  impressions  on 
the  one  hand,  and  by  the  associations  and  reproductions, 
which  are  joined  to  a  perception  of  external  things  and  its 
bodily  condition,  on  the  other."  "  The  teacher  can  therefore 
at  first  only  make  thorough  use  of  this  involuntary  attention  of 
the  child."  The  ability  of  a  voluntary  straining  of  the  atten- 
tion grows  in  the  same  proportion  in  which  the  inner  connec- 
tion, the  ease  of  surveying  and  connecting  the  separate  parts 
lying  within  the  domain  of  impressions  to  which  it  is  directed, 
is  increased.  It  is  only  by  accustoming  the  child  to  check  the 
rapid  change  of  ideas,  and  select  and  fix  a  distinct  impression 
from  among  the  manifold  variety  of  impressions  crowding  in 
from  without,  —  furthermore,  by  keeping  its  voluntary  attention 
directed  to  this  fixture,  —  that  we  may  hope  to  save  it  from  dis- 
traction, and  lead  it  from  clear,  precise,  and  firm  views  and 
conceptions,  to  the  depth  and  concentration  of  logical  thoughts. 
Lazarus  writes  :  "  Especially  in  a  class  where  the  large  number 
of  pupils  renders  a  continual  direct  instruction  of  each  one 
impossible,  the  pupil  should  be  accustomed  to  follow  the 
indirect  instruction  with  a  lively  attention,  and  thus  collect  the 


SPECIAL    HABITS.  /I 

rays  into  which  the  activity  and  words  of  the  teacher  have  been 
separated  within  himself  as  a  focus." 

Attention  is  increased  :  i .  By  a  firm,  erect  position  of  the 
body.  This  leads  man  to  control  himself  inwardly  as  well  as 
outwardly.  On  the  other  hand,  attention  is  shown  *>y  an  erect 
position  of  the  body,  by  the  vivid  eye,  and  by  the  expression 
which  the  face  receives  from  the  activity  of  the  soul.  Its  oppo- 
site is  recognized  by  the  weary,  sunken  carriage,  the  staring 
and  lifeless  or  wandering  gaze,  the  "  don't  care  "  expression, 
betraying  foreign  psychical  emotion.  2.  Attention  finds  a 
mental  aid  in  the  interest  which  the  pupil  has  for  the  subject, 
in  consequence  of  his  natural  inclination  or  the  education  of 
his  teacher.  Interest  is  increased  in  the  same  measure  in 
which  we  allow  the  pupil  to  grasp  the  easily  comprehensible 
ideas  lying  around  every  object,  and  gradually  proceed  from 
these  to  others,  lying  farther  away.  We  should  be  content 
with  very  little  at  first,  and  allow  what  has  been  comprehended 
to  be  thoroughly  digested  by  a  systematic  repetition,  and  con- 
tinually extended  by  successive  representations  from  different 
points  of  view.  Hereby  not  only  the  simple  object  is  grasped 
more  completely  and  intensely,  but  an  interest  is  awakened  for 
such  objects  as  were  at  first  incomprehensible  to  the  child. 
Ruegg  says  :  "  We  have  exceedingly  sharp  senses  for  anything 
that  interests  us,  and  at  the  same  time  very  dull  ones  for  any- 
thing immaterial  to  us."  But,  in  general,  only  that  is  of  any 
interest  to  us  which  we  are  to  a  certain  degree  capable  of  mas- 
tering, which  we  at  least  think  to  comprehend.  The  cele- 
brated pedagogue,  T.  Ziller,  studied  the  importance  of  interest 
very  minutely,  and  declares  that  instmction  must  particularly 
awaken  and  develop  a  wide  and  many-sided  interest  in  the 
objects  taught  and  the  mental  labor,  while  the  separate  particles 
received  may  occasionally,  without  harm,  fall  a  prey  to  forgetful- 
ness.  It  is  this  wide  and  various  interest  that  distinguishes  the 
truly  educated  ancl  mentally  active  person ;  and  the  increased 


72  HABIT   IN    EDUCATION. 

interest  in  separate  subjects  causes  him  to  be  saved  from  dis- 
traction, notwithstanding  a  generous  education,  and  enables  him 
to  use  his  concentrated  efforts  in  separate  fields. 

Interest,  furthermore,  awakens  and  increases  diligence,  as,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  is  heightened  by  earnest  but  not  excessive 
activity.  And  diligence  is  what  every  school  must  foster  and 
practise.  The  child  should  early  be  accustomed  to  the  view 
that  a  life  consisting  of  labor  and  care  is  precious,  and  that 
only  hard  work  leads  to  the  goal.  Man  must  recognize  that  no 
disgrace  is  due  to  labor,  be  it  physical  or  mental,  and  at  present 
valued  more  or  less  highly  in  the  world ;  but  that  idleness  is 
not  only  the  root  of  all  evil,  —  for  in  "an  idle  way  labors  the  evil 
spirit,"  —  but  is  besides  unworthy  of  every  man  whom  God 
endowed  with  a  healthy  body  and  mind.  Spencer  remarks  : 
"The  opinion  that  it  is  honorable  to  do  nothing  but  seek 
pleasure,  and  in  a  certain  sense  dishonorable  to  spend  life  in 
providing  others  with  the  means  of  this  pleasure,  though  con- 
siderably weakened,  still  holds  ground."  He  points  to  the  fact 
that  there  is  something  low  in  being  a  mere  consumer.  But  as 
the  ideas  of  honor  vary  among  different  nations,  and  at  different 
times,  he  thinks  that  "  those  of  our  contemporaries,  who  glory  in 
consuming  much,  and  producing  nothing ;  and  who  concern 
themselves  little  about  the  welfare  of  their  fellow-men  so  long 
as  these  provide  them  with  good  meals,  soft  beds,  and  pleasant 
diversions,  will  be  looked  upon  with  amazement  by  people  of 
future  times,  who  live  under  higher  social  forms."  This  change 
in  ideas  about  honor  is  not  only  possible  but  very  probable. 
As  the  wealthy  in  China  even  now  have  their  nails  grow  so  long 
that  they  must  be  turned  back,  and  the  ladies  submit  to  long 
tortures,  "  that  their  compressed  feet  may  show  their  inability  to 
labor,"  the  di.sgracefulness  of  commerce  was  in  former  times 
an  article  of  belief  firmly  upheld  among  the  upper  classes  of 
European  nations.  Now  we  see  how  members  of  the  land- 
owning class  enter  into  business ;  and  even  the  sons  of  peers 


SPECIAL    HABITS.  73 

take  up  a  scientific  profession,  or  become  merchants  ;  and  how 
the  feeling  that  people  of  their  position  have  public  duties  to 
perform  spreads  more  and  more  among  the  wealthy,  while  the 
absolutely  idle  among  them  are  considered  blameworthy.  "If 
this  refinement  of  the  ideas  of  honor  is  further  developed,  they 
will,"  Spencer  thinks,  "  in  future  be  amazed  that  there  should 
ever  have  been  persons  who  thought  it  admirable  to  enjoy  with- 
out working,  to  the  cost  of  those  who  work  without  enjoying." 
Roscher  says  :  "  The  higher  culture  rises  the  mpre  honorable 
is  labor,  while  barbaric  nations  despise  it  as  slavish.  And  if 
every  one  would  experience  the  delight  of  life,  if  he  will  prove 
the  truth  of  the  saying,  'after  ended  labor  we  rest  well,'  he 
must  learn  that  labor  is  not  only  sweet,  and  may  also  turn  very 
bitter;  but  that  the  joy  at  its  completion  is  the  highest  and, 
according  to  the  view  of  some,  the  only  sensual  one  which  has 
no  admixture  of  disgust."  "  Epicureanism  fails  because  it 
leaves  important  parts  of  man's  nature  unpractised ;  it  neglects 
the  satisfaction  resulting  from  successful  labor,  and  it  lacks  the 
gratifying  consciousness  of  services  done  to  others.  Egotistical 
enjoyments,  when  continually  searched,  grow  weak ;  while  the 
desire  for  them  is  satiated  in  a  much  shorter  time  than  our 
waking  life  gives  us,  thus  leaving  us  times  that  are  either  empty 
or  spent  in  efforts  to  attain  enjoyment  after  the  desire  for  it  has 
ceased.  They  also  grow  weak  from  want  of  that  broad  contrast 
which  arises  when  half  of  life  is  spent  in  active  labor.  The 
negative  causes  of  dissatisfaction  are  connected  with  the  positive 
cause  alluded  to, — the  absence  of  that  content  won  by  successful 
labor.  One  of  the  most  solid  and  lasting  pleasures  is  the  feeling 
of  personal  worth,  which  is  continually  refreshed  in  our  con- 
sciousness by  successful  action  ;  while  an  idle  life  is  deprived 
in  a  great  part  of  its  hopes  by  the  absence  of  this.  Finally,  the 
neglect  of  labor  for  others,  or  such  labor  as  is  felt  to  be  in  some 
way  useful  to  others,  brings  with  it  the  allied  evils,  —  a  want  of 
certain  not  easily  drained  positive  enjoyments  of  the  highest 


74  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

kind  and  a  further  craving  for  egotistical  pleasures  which  then 
again  leads  to  satiety." — Volkmann.  Spencer  says:  "He  to 
whom  life  offers  earnest  work,  interspersed  with  joyous  holidays 
for  rA:reation,  will  feel  no  ennui,  and  will  not  easily  fall  into 
pessimistic  views  or  despair.  The  work  should,  therefore,  not 
be  made  too  easy ;  it  should  not  always  be  play  for  the  child, 
although  some  weak  parents  may  wish  this,  and  some  very 
respected  pedagogues  may  attempt  to  set  it  up  as  a  principle." 
[Humanitarianism  views  study  as  a  serious  business  which 
"  accustoms  the  apprentice  by  early  vigorous  action  to  diligence 
and  industry."  Philanthropism  wants  to  render  study  easy  in 
every  way  so  that  the  apprentice  will  take  pleasure  in  the  busi- 
ness, and  thereby  awaken  and  foster  an  inclination  to  work  in 
him.]  Industry  should  furthermore  not  be  confined  to  too 
small  a  space,  and  practise  certain  psychical  functions  to  the 
detriment  of  others  which  are  neglected ;  but  it  should  strive 
after  harmonic  development  of  the  entire  man.  It  has  been 
said,  that  at  present  a  broad  education  and  a  lively  interest  in 
various  directions  should  early  be  implanted  by  instruction,  as 
in  consequence  of  the  partition  of  labor,  the  later  profession 
requires  a  condensation ;  and  that  the  youth  should  already  be 
introduced  into  the  higher  ideal  world  as  preparation  for  a 
distinct  vocation,  the  cares  and  worries,  of  which  leave  little 
time  for  this  after  a  while.  But  in  order  that  this  real  mental 
interest  may  be  awakened  and  fostered,  the  pupil  should  not 
be  accustomed  to  learn  and  practise  new  things  only,  but  to 
arrange  what  was  formerly  received,  unite  it  with  the  present, 
and  thereby  gain  new  combinations  as  well  as  view  clearly  the 
connection  of  the  separate  parts  with  the  whole.  In  this  way, 
man  is  often  first  taught  to  recognize  what  corresponds  best  to 
his  faculties,  and  towards  which  he  must  principally  turn  his 
power. 

Kern  develops  the  following  forms  of  instruction  from  the 
demands  mentioned  above.     Instruction  shall  (i)  arrange  and 


SPECIAL    HABITS.  75 

rectify  the  conceptional  comparisons  already  belonging  to  the 
child  ;  (2)  widen  the  circle  of  its  conception  by  (a)  creating 
new  ideas,  (^)  forming  new  relations  between  those  already 
present.  From  this  follows,  (i)  the  explanatory  instruction, 
first  of  all,  which  must  prepare  the  way  for  the  later  stages, 
and  form  a  basis  for  them.  It  divides  the  ideas  already  existing 
into  their  separate  parts,  and  renders  them  clearer.  Herbart 
thinks  it  particularly  meritorious,  but  very  difficult  for  the 
teacher  "to  find  the  'entirely  simple,'  and  dissect  his  own 
thoughts  into  their  elements,"  and  thus  offer  the  child  clear  and 
comprehensible  instruction.  (2)  The  objective  and  developing 
instruction. 

Amos  Comenius  required  a  flawless  succession  of  instructions  ; 
also  Pestalozzi.  The  latter  thinks  we  should  begirt  with  the 
easiest,  and  by  successive  progress  add  only  a  little  to  what  has 
been  fully  learned.  This  produces  confidence  in  the  beginning 
of  study,  and  keeps  alive  the  consciousness  of  power,  so  that 
the  children  need  only  be  guided,  not  driven.  Like  the  house 
on  a  rock,  the  little  new  must  be  founded  on  what  has  formerly 
been  acquired.  The  house,  however,  falls  if  the  connection 
between  it  and  the  rocks  is  moved  but  a  few  lines.  Jacotot  laid 
great  stress  in  his  "  ensignment  universal "  on  the  following : 
The  representation  of  the  new  should  be  joined  to  what  has 
been  recognized,  seen,  comprehended  ;  one  must  learn  to  com- 
prehend one  book,  and  then  refer  all  that  is  read,  heard,  or 
learned  to  that ;  and  it  will  also  be  understood. 

A  boy  whose  entire  mental  powers  are  developed  and  enlarged 
as  much  as  possible  under  the  same  conditions,  who  is  accus- 
tomed to  compare  all  that  he  daily  learns  with  what  he  knew 
the  day  before,  and  watch  whether  this  comparison  will  not 
cause  him  to  discover  things  which  had  not  been  told  him  ; 
who  is  continually  led  to  look  from  one  science  into  another ; 
who  is  taught  to  rise  as  easily  from  the  special  to  the  general 
as  to  descend  again  from  the  general  to  the  special  —  that  boy 


76  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

will  grow  to  be  a  genius,  or  we  cannot  grow  to  be  anything  in 
this  world.  Plato  remarked  that  the  discovery  of  new  rela- 
tions between  what  has  been  acquired  characterized  the  truly 
philosophic  faculty,  and  enabled  one  to  comprehend  the  gen- 
eral, eternal  ideas.  In  these  cases  the  habitude  of  concen- 
tration and  a  broad  education  can  well  proceed  along  side  of 
each  other. 

In  the  development  of  the  mental  powers,  the  school  should 
not  neglect  the  body,  but  should  foster  separate  and  fine 
motific  functions  during  the  hours  for  general  instruction,  and 
complex  and  stronger  ones  outside  of  these  periods.  As  the 
child  practises  and  strengthens  certain  muscle-groups  by  crawl- 
ing and  walking,  gymnastics  will  strengthen  the  whole  organ- 
ism. In  connection  with  this,  gymnastic  excursions  and  gen- 
eral games  as  well  as  private  walks  of  single  students,  will 
not  only  serve  as  a  recreation,  but  will  also  strengthen  the  body. 
Calisthenics  give  health  and  power,  advance  courage  and 
decision,  moral  firmness,  and  strength  of  character;  by  the 
quickness  and  positiveness  of  the  motions,  a  mobility  of  the 
limbs  and  physical  grace  in  general  are  greatly  favored,  which 
is,  as  has  been  mentioned,  of  great  importance  to  the  entire 
psychical  life.  Hence  the  Greeks  justly  valued  their  gymnastics 
so  highly  as  an  important  factor  in  the  education  of  xoAoxdyo&'a  ; 
and  Jahn  told  his  contemporaries  that  gymnastics  was  a  "  matter 
concerning  all  mankind,  which  belonged  everywhere,  where 
mortal  man  inhabited  the  world,"  just  as  Fichte  calls  it  a  vital 
part  of  education. 

As  far  as  the  hours  of  instruction  are  concerned,  the  organs 
of  speech  are  practised  in  a  natural  and  manifold  way  in  speak- 
ing, reading,  and  singing ;  the  hand,  in  writing  and  drawing ; 
and  the  fingers,  in  playing  on  instruments,  and  in  needlework. 
With  writing  and  drawing  may  be  combined  a  continuance  of 
the  habitude  for  cleanliness  and  neatness,  while  the  aesthetic 
sense  for  regularity  and  beauty  must  be  awakened  and  fostered. 


SPECIAL    HABITS.  77 

Before  its  entrance  into  school  the  child  has  been  accustomed 
to  articulate  the  sounds  of  its  mother  tongue  correctly,  and  to 
use  them  correctly  ;  the  school  must  continue  this  practice,  and 
complete  the  verbal  instruction  in  language  by  written  applica- 
tions. 

Rousseau  opposes  the  too  early  persuasion  of  children  to 
speak.  He  thinks  the  greatest  harm  caused  by  a  hasty  attempt 
to  make  children  speak,  is  twf,  that  our  conversations  and 
words  have  no  meaning  whatever  for  them,  but  that  they  con- 
nect an  entirely  different  meaning  with  them  without  our  know- 
ing it.  This  generally  produces  the  surprises  which  speeches 
of  children  cause  us,  by  our  giving  to  them  a  meaning  which 
the  children  had  not  at  all  connected  with  them.  Lazarus 
points  to  the  fact  that  it  is  specially  harmful  if  the  child  from 
the  first  hears  two  languages  and  speaks  them  itself,  for  it  can- 
not then  enter  deeply  enough  into  either.  The  higher  instruc- 
tion must  proceed  in  the  same  way  with  the  study  of  foreign 
languages ;  the  rules  of  grammar  are  not  only  to  be  studied 
but  their  use  taught  and  practised  by  verbal  and  written  exer- 
cises. In  arithmetic  habitude  should  make  the  use  of  the 
multiplication  table,  and  the  advantages  of  some  operations  in 
higher  mathematics,  the  appliance  of  some  particular  rules  in 
complicated  proofs,  a  "second  nature."  As  elementary  geom- 
etry, by  the  comprehension  and  construction  of  the  elements 
of  space,  at  first  practises  the  observing  powers  of  the  child,  so 
the  natural  sciences  must  primarily  give  to  the  soul  of  the  child 
clear  impressions  of  natural  bodies  ;  afterwards  the  instruction  in 
natural  science  should  lead  by  comparison,  discrimination,  and 
abstraction  to  the  deduction  of  natural  laws  from  separate  phe- 
nomena. Geography  no  less  than  natural  science  should  begin 
with  what  is  most  familiar,  and  proceed  to  what  is  foreign  and 
less  known.  But  the  place  most  familiar  to  the  child  is  its 
home.  On  the  one  hand,  the  paternal  house,  with  the  apple- 
tree  in  the  garden  on  which  the  finches  sing,  is  the  first  ground 


78  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

to  the  environs  of  which  man  is  bound  with  bonds  of  steel,  and 
from  which  the  wider  affinities  of  the  family,  the  community, 
the  race,  extend  to  form  by  a  close  union  of  bonds,  the  great 
whole,  the  nation.  On  the  other  hand,  as  Kern  well  says  :  "  In 
the  mental  life  of  the  boy  his  home  forms  the  standard  by 
which  he  measures  foreign  places.  He  compares  the  size  of 
other  cities  with  the  size  of  his  native  city  or  those  lying  near  his 
native  home.  His  ideas  of  rivers  and  seas  are  formed  after  the 
streams  and  ponds  of  his  native  land ;  he  places  the  hills  and 
mountains  of  his  immediate  surroundings  in  thought,  one  upon 
the  other,  to  picture  to  himself  the  mountains  of  foreign  lands. 
A  winter  landscape  gives  him  the  first  sketch  for  the  picture  he 
makes  of  the  Polar  regions.  The  general  geographical  ideas  are 
not  gained  by  explanations  such  as  are  collected  in  the  introduc- 
tions to  geographical  hand-books,  but  by  abstractions  from  the 
separate  ideas  and  conceptions  that  he  has  gained  by  immediate 
observation.  The  boy  will  understand  a  map  only  when  he 
has  previously  been  taught  to  recognize  the  points  in  a  carto- 
graphic representation  of  what  he  has  actually  seen."  Lazarus 
would,  therefore,  like  to  see  four  maps  in  every  school,  i.  A 
plan  of  the  village  or  city;  2.  the  county;  3.  the  state  or 
country ;  4.  the  grand  division  of  the  earth.  The  child  should 
hunt  in  the  first  plan  the  street,  perhaps  even  the  house  in 
which  it  lives,  in  order  to  accustom  itself  to  the  cartographic 
representation.  "  Then,"  says  Lazarus,  "it  should  familiarize 
itself  with  the  idea  that  on  the  second  map,  the  street  can  no 
longer  be  seen,  and  the  city  is  only  marked  by  a  large,  and  in  the 
third,  by  a  very  small  circle,  and  disappears  entirely  from  the 
last  where  the  whole  stale  takes  up  but  a  very  small  part.  The 
pupil  should  also  learn  that  the  cities,  countries,  and  nations, 
even  the  grand  divisions  and  their  inhabitants,  are  no  longer 
isolated  but  connected  with  each  other  by  commerce,  so  that 
the  products  of  a  European  state  are  consumed  in  America, 
India,  or  China ;  and  vice  versa,  he  should  furthermore  gain 


SPECIAL    HABITS.  79 

some  knowledge  of  the  relations  of  private  property,  grounds  and 
houses  ;  to  state  property,  reads,  and  land,  and  water-ways,  etc." 
Instruction  in  history,  like  that  in  religion,  has  the  special 
purpose  of  assisting  in  the  education  of  the  feelings,  as  it  awak- 
ens and  fosters  the  sense  for  the  high  and  ideal  as  well  as  for 
the  moral  feelings.  Ancient  history,  by  the  number  of  sublime 
examples,  by  the  simplicity  and  transparency  of  its  relations, 
which  have  so  often  been  held  up  to  view,  offers  the  best  oppor- 
tunity for  this.  But  the  pupil  must  even  here  accustom  himself 
to  study,  that  he  may  gain  insight  by  inculcation  and  frequent 
repetition ;  only  by  a  mastery  of  the  material  will  he  gain  an 
insight  into  the  connection  of  a  separate  event  with  a  larger 
period,  and  into  the  relationship  of  this  period  to  the  whole  pre- 
vious development ;  thus  he  will  recognize  in  how  many  ways 
and  in  which  directions  humanity  has  progressed,  on  what  the 
present  state  of  culture  of  his  country  and  all  the  inhabitants 
of  earth  is  based,  and  he  will  then  be  able  later  to  form  a  con- 
ception of  what  its  purpose  and  use  really  are.  The  influence 
of  great  examples  in  historical  instruction  was  especially  dwelt 
on  by  Montaigne.  Herbert  Spencer  thinks  that  history,  as  now 
taught,  has  only  a  conventional,  that  is,  no  actual,  value,  as  it 
amounts  to  a  mere  accumulation,  in  the  memory,  of  numbers 
and  dead  facts  from  which  no  principles  for  the  guidance  of 
actions  at  the  present  time  could  be  deducted.  He  demands 
in  its  place  a  "  Natural  History  of  Society,"  that  is,  a  mention 
of  all  those  facts  which  help  us  to  understand  the  growth  and 
organization  process  of  a  nation.  He  would  have  taught  de- 
velopment, combination,  principles,  methods,  prejudices,  or  vices 
of  the  government;  formation  of  the  church  rule,  its  actions 
and  omissions  as  well  as  its  relations  to  the  state ;  a  synopsis  of 
the  commercial  system ;  state  of  aesthetic  culture  as  evinced  by 
architecture,  painting,  etc.  The  child  should  be  taught  that 
these  are  members  of-  a  whole,  and  how  the  different  phases  of 
culture  blend  one  into  the  other.  This  descriptive  sociology 


8O  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

should  be  based  on  psychology,  as  it  is  made  up  of  the  actions 
of  separate  beings,  and  can  be  understood  only  by  the  aid  of 
psychology.  Lazarus  draws  attention  to  the  fact  that  formerly 
historical  instruction  included  only  a  history  of  wars  and  bat- 
tles, but  that  in  the  lately  opened  path  we  have  been  obliged  to 
go  farther,  and  give  more  history  of  the  mental  culture. 

Spencer  and  Bain  especially  write  against  the  linguistic- 
humanistic  education  of  the  present  time  ;  they  would  introduce 
in  its  place  a  scientific  education,  because  it  is  of  more  use  in 
practical  life.  Spencer  says  that  grammar  is  the  philosophy  of 
language,  and  therefore,  as  it  consists  of  the  abstract,  should  be 
taught  last  instead  of  first,  —  proceeding  from  the  general  prin- 
ciple that  the  concrete  should  be  taught  first,  and  then  the 
abstract.  Spencer  and  Wyse  would  not  begin  in  mathematics 
with  the  general  abstractions  of  lines  and  surfaces,  but  produce 
them  for  observation  in  real  objects  containing  surfaces  and  lines  ; 
then  have  them  copied,  and  so  on. 


MORAL    HABITS.  8 1 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

MORAL   HABITS. 

CONNECTION   BETWEEN   INTELLECT  AND   EMOTION. LYING. 

As  both  school  and  life  should  make  morality  so  much  of  a 
habitude  and  second  nature  that  in  single  actions  no  struggle, 
not  even  a  thought  of  what  is  to  be  done,  will  be  necessary,  but 
that  man  will  immediately  do  the  right  and  good  thing,  so 
school  instruction,  particularly  in  the  intellectual  direction, 
should  habituate  to  "  thinking  and  speaking "  by  producing 
clearness  and  plainness,  decision  and  firmness,  order  and  cohe- 
rence in  all  mental  operations.  The  sense  of  truth  grown  into 
a  habit,  and  the  habitual  practice  of  a  thorough  method  of 
observation  and  judgment,  form  the  only  true  and  developed 
theoretical  education. 

Bad  habits  injure  as  much  as  good  ones  benefit.  Education 
should,  therefore,  combine  the  positive  acquirement  of  good 
habits  and  the  negative  work  of  not  practising  bad  habits,  and 
prevent  the  spoiling  of  the  child  by  not  permitting  its  wishes 
and  wants  to  be  fulfilled  the  moment  they  are  expressed. 

The  child  should  be  weaned  of  all  bad  peculiarities,  pas- 
sions, and  emotions, — laziness,  inactivity,  fickleness,  and  weak- 
ness of  will,  quarrelsomeness,  and  selfishness,  vanity,  obstinacy, 
and  wilfulness,  anger,  and  revenge  fulness.  [E.  M.  Arnclt 
places  perverseness  almost  out  of  the  sphere  of  imputability, 
by  looking  upon  it  as  an  inborn  ailment,  resulting  from  the 
unfortunate  disposition  of  the  parents,  or  conventional  mar- 
riages without  love.]  This  can  best  be  done  by  removing  the 
causes  and  incentives ;  the  more  rarely  evil  traits  find  an 
opportunity  of  appearing  and  gaining  strength,  the  more  they 


82  'HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

will  lose  in  power,  just  as  physical  powers  grow  weaker  when 
they  are  not  practised.  Where  the  removal  of  the  incentives 
or  the  setting  aside  of  all  opportunities  for  its  expression  is 
impossible,  a  diversion  of  the  attention  of  the  child  to  more 
harmless  objects,  especially  games,  will  often  be  very  beneficial. 
In  later  years  a  bad  inclination  is  conquered  more  easily  by 
the  introduction  of  an  opposing  stronger  passion  than  by  mere 
instruction ;  for,  though  we  can  refute  and  conquer  thoughts 
by  thoughts,  they  are  powerless  against  feelings  as  well  as 
against  the  education  of  the  energy  of  personal  will.  It  is, 
however,  an  exaggeration  when  Herbert  Spencer  says :  "  He 
who  would  hope  to  give  a  knowledge  of  geometry  by  lessons 
in  Latin,  or  expect  to  gain  practice  in  drawing  by  the  expres- 
sive playing  of  a  sonata,  would  be  considered  ready  for  a  lunatic 
asylum ;  and  yet  he  would  scarcely  be  more  irrational  than 
those  who  hope  to  engender  better  feelings  by  schooling  the 
mental  faculties."  Three  psychical  foundation  processes, 
formerly  called  "soul-powers," — thinking,  feeling,  will,  —  con- 
tinually influence  each  other ;  as  the  feelings  and  interest,  the 
wishes  and  inclinations,  exercise  their  effect  on  the  will  and 
thoughts,  so  the  education  of  the  intelligence  is  of  vast  impor- 
tance for  the  emotional  life.  The  finer  aesthetic  moral  and 
religious  feelings  are  only  possible  with  a  high  development  of 
ideas. 

The  fostering  of  a  sense  of  honor  and  shame  may  here  sup- 
press many  evil  inclinations.  Many  qualities  which  we  do  not 
approve  have  been  produced  by  a  former  false  education,  and 
can  easily  be  removed  by  avoiding  the  mistakes  of  this  false 
method,  taking  the  influences  on  the  organism  of  nature,  the 
season  and  time  of  day,  the  individual  natural  disposition,  and 
momentary  state  of  the  pupil,  into  consideration,  and  making 
our  preparations  and  rules  of  conduct  accordingly.  Further- 
more, we  should  attempt  to  keep  up  the  good  humor  of  the 
pupil  during  every  occupation,  and  to  produce  a  pleasant 


MORAL    HABITS.  83 

change  between  exertion  and  recreation  during  the  lesson, 
between  absorption  and  recollection.  In  the  upper  classes  of 
high  institutions  the  pupils  must  often  be  broken  of  the  habits 
of  card-playing,  and  other  student-like  bearing  and  actions, 
with  great  severity.  The  fiercest  and  most  obstinate  fight,  how- 
ever, which  education  has  to  carry  on  is  that  against  lying,  from 
earliest  childhood  to  the  upper  classes  of  gymnasiums  and  real- 
schools.  Waitz  speaks  of  the  evil  psychological  results  of  the  suc- 
cessful lie  :  "  If,  in  consequence  of  the  transgression  of  a  com- 
mand, conscience  has  been  awakened,  it  will  be  almost  entirely 
silenced  by  the  successful  lie,  for  the  transgression  seems 
obviated  thereby,  as  it  has  become  invisible.  Herein  is  the 
great  danger  of  the  lie  :  it  permits  the  transgression,  which  it 
withdrew  from  discovery,  to  appear  less  great  and  important, 
as  the  feared  results  thereof  are  now  happily  turned  away,  and 
in  this  way  it  dulls  the  conscience  in  general."  The  pupil 
should  here  be  made  occasionally  to  feel,  with  great  sever- 
ity, the  severe  consequences  of  lying,  beside  the  reprimand- 
ing words  about  the  disgrace  of  it.  Basedow  thought  lying 
should  be  caused  to  result  in  misfortune  to  the  children  them- 
selves, that  by  this  misfortune  they  may  be  diverted  therefrom ; 
they  should  also  be  accustomed  not  to  feel  ashamed  of  the 
confession.  With  half-grown  boys  and  young  men,  however, 
who  are  not  habitual  liars,  it  will  have  a  very  good  effect  to  teach 
them  to  look  upon  a  lie  as  something  terrible,  by  evidences  of 
confidence,  and  in  this  way  to  brand  it  silently  as  dishonorable 
cowardice,  and  deserving  of  shame.  Most  lies  are  not  the 
result  of  an  inclination  thereto,  or  of  natural  villany,  but  of 
the  effort  to  withdraw  from  a  momentary  difficulty ;  they  are 
used  by  children  to  avoid  smaller  or  larger  punishments,  with- 
out their  valuing  the  truth  in  the  same  way  in  which  we  must. 
They  look  upon  language  as  a  supply  of  means  to  reach  their 
purpose.  But  what  we  should  see  to  is,  that  when  questioned 
about  what  took  place,  they  tell  the  truth.  • 


84  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

Jean  Paul  is  not  far  wrong  when  he  says  :  "  In  the  first  five 
years  our  children  say  no  true  word  and  no  lying  one ;  they 
only  talk.  Their  speaking  is  a  loud  thinking;  but  as  often 
one-half  of  a  thought  is  yes,  and  the  other  no,  and  they  (un- 
like us)  utter  both,  they  appear  to  lie,  while  they  only  speak  to 
themselves.  Furthermore,  they  enjoy  playing  with  the  art  of 
speech  new  to  them ;  thus  they  often  speak  nonsense,  only  to 
listen  to  their  own  knowledge  of  language."  Children  give 
their  imaginative  ideas  a  reality,  and  do  not  know  how  to  dis- 
tinguish subjective  thinking  and  objective  reality ;  they  are 
involuntary  poets.  Ruegg  says  :  "  Already  in  the  second  year 
of  life  —  more  frequently  in  later  ones  —  the  child  will  drink 
comfortably  from  an  empty  cup,  eat  out  of  an  empty  dish,  and 
gladly  share  these  meals  with  those  around  him.  It  can  feed 
birds  which  are  not  present,  and  not  even  represented  by  any- 
thing, and  it  will  often  grow  excited,  and  sad,  or  angry,  when 
some  one  walks  over  the  place  and  drives  the  imagined  birds 
away."  These  phenomena  of  child-life  are  also  found  among 
uncultivated  barbaric  races  Tyler  tells  of  a  woman  in  Van 
Diemen's  Land  who  addressed  four  or  five  stones  as  though 
they  were  her  distant  relatives. 

The  imaginative  conceptions  of  children  appear  particularly 
in  their  play,  and  there  receive  the  privileges  of  reality.  A  boot- 
jack, a  foot-stool,  becomes  a  horse  on  which  the  child  rides,  a 
doll  which  it  sings  to  sleep.  If,  therefore,  there  is  in  their  play 
a  certain  danger,  the  inability  to  distinguish  subjective  and  ob- 
jective facts,  which  actual  life  must  remove,  this  is,  nevertheless, 
of  pedagogical  importance  in  forming  the  imagination  and 
changing  passive  imagination,  which  devotes  itself  more  to 
the  impressions  received  from  without  and  the  change  of  the 
encited  ideas,  into  active  imagination,  which  creates  these 
conceptions  itself,  and  makes  a  selection  between  those  offer- 
ing themselves.  If  the  playthings  of  children  are,  however,  to 
accomplish  this  latter  object,  they  should  not  consist,  as  is 


MORAL    HABITS.  85 

mostly  the  case  at  present,  of  already  finished  copies  of  real 
forms  and  objects,  which  leave  no  room  for  the  imagination  ;. 
but  they  should  contain  rough  pieces  of  wood,  building-blocks, 
etc.,  which  the  child  must  form  into  something,  either  imitat- 
ing objects  it  has  seen,  or  inventing  new  ones,  and  thus  exer- 
cising his  imagination.  We  may,  indeed,  often  observe  that 
the  child  will  much  rather  play  with  the  old,  roughly-fashioned 
horse  and  the  shapeless  doll,  than  with  elegant  new  toys,  which 
are  very  similar  to  the  real  objects  they  represent ;  it  can 
make  something  out  of  the  former,  but  not  out  of  the  latter. 
Furthermore,  the  plays  of  children  should  not  be  systematized ; 
they  should  give  the  individual  an  opportunity  for  the  distinct 
development  of  its  fancy. 

Rousseau  also  shows  that  the  mania  children  sometimes  have 
for  destroying  things  does  not  arise  from  ill  temper,  but  from 
the  lively  desire  for  action,  the  wish  to  change  the  condition  of 
things ;  they  sometimes  break  their  toys  in  consequence  of  a 
craving  of  their  imagination  to  see  what  is  in  or  behind  them. 
Neither  do  they  lie  from  natural  badness,  but  allow  themselves 
to  be  carried  away  by  the  interest  of  their  story,  and  give  a 
reality  to  suddenly  arising  conceptions,  and  thus  mingle  truth 
and  fiction.  Jean  Paul  tells  of  a  girl  who  often  pictured  visions 
of  the  Christ-child  to  him,  and  told  him  what  it  had  done  and 
said,  while  when  directly  questioned,  the  girl  always  spoke  the 
truth.  I  was  myself  told  by  a  lady  who  now  writes  very  good 
poems,  and  therefore  possesses  a  lively  imagination,  that  when 
a  child  she  related  stories  to  her  friends  and  relatives,  which  she 
said  were  dreams  of  the  preceding  night,  the  separate  ideas  of 
which,  however,  did  not  appear  until  she  began  to  relate  them. 
This  was  not  a  wicked  propensity  "  to  bind  up  upon  others,"  but 
the  pleasure  in  relating  and  "  composing."  And  there  may  be 
many  such  young  poetesses  ;  girls  have  many  small  stratagems 
at  their  command,  and  are  especially  strong  in  "  fibbing."  Such 
things  should  not  be  condemned  as  ill-natured  lies,  but  neither 


86  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

should  they  be  smiled  at  and  permitted  to  reach  their  purpose ; 
boasting  and  exaggerations  by  children  should  be  met  with 
solemn  silence.  Especially  the  parents  themselves  and  others 
about  the  child  should  not  accustom  it  to  lying  by  making  use  of 
social  lies.  Education  should  not  treat  this  fancying  habit  of 
children  too  severely  as  a  lie,  but  gradually  break  them  of  it 


EXTREME    HABITUATION.  8? 


CHAPTER   IX. 

EXTREME    HABITUATION. 

ILL   EFFECTS   OF  THIS    IN   GENERAL. THREE  THEORIES   CONCERN- 
ING THE   EMOTIONS. NECESSITY   OF   CHANGE    IN    INSTRUCTION. 

PUNISHMENTS. HIGHER  AESTHETIC  FEELING. PREJUDICE. 

PEDANTRY.: — LAW   OF  RELATIVENESS. 

EDUCATION  should  also  prevent  the  spoiling  of  children.  No 
one  should  be  accustomed  too  much,  still  less  entirely,  to  the 
use  of  one  function,  so  that  the  ability  to  perform  it  will  not 
grow  into  a  necessity  and  the  power  of  free  personal  decision 
will  not  be  lost,  and  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  change  or  modify 
it  as  soon  as  circumstances  should  require  this.  In  this  regard, 
if  for  habitude  we  make  use  of  its  extreme  degree,  Rousseau  is 
not  far  wrong  when  he  says :  "The  only  habit  which  a  child 
should  be  permitted  to  acquire  is  this,  that  it  habituate  itself  to 
nothing  in  particular."  "We  should  not  carry  it  oftener  on  one 
arm  than  on  the  other ;  not  accustom  it  to  give  one  hand  in 
preference  to  the  other  or  use  it  oftener ;  always  to  eat,  sleep, 
and  be  active  at  the  same  hour,  or  to  be  able  to  remain  alone 
neither  by  day  nor  night.  Help  the  child  from  afar  to  assume 
the  rule  of  personal  liberty  and  the  use  of  its  power  by  leaving 
its  natural  habits  to  the  body,  by  bringing  the  child  to  be  always 
master  of  itself  and  always  to  follow  only  its  own  will  as  soon  as 
it  shall  have  one."  But  this  too  close  accustoming  to  one  habit 
is  particularly  hurtful  to  the  emotional  life.  It  is  true,  as  Rous- 
seau and  many  others  have  likewise  taught,  that  in  educational 
matters  one  age  shall  not  be  sacrificed  to  a  following  one,  nor 
its  pleasures  curtailed,  but  each  should  keep  its  joy,  and  the 


88  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

child  should  retain"  cheerfulness  and  joy  in  life  and  labor  not- 
withstanding all  exertion.  Lazarus  therefore  looks  upon  every 
labor  imposed  as  a  punishment,  as  a  pedagogical  mistake,  since 
it  spoils  the  child's  pleasure  in  work  in  general.  Every  act  of 
the  pedagogue  should  be  not  only  a  means  for  the  better  ac- 
complishment of  the  following  one,  nor  alone  self-sufficient,  but 
both  together.  The  child  should  be  given  time  for  recreation 
and  play,  free  choice  in  the  variety  of  the  latter,  and  by  this 
means  its  pleasure  in  play.  Lazarus  here  shows  a  fault/  of  the 
kindergarten  system,  which  otherwise  has  so  many  good  points. 
It  does  not  let  the  child  have  a  free  choice  of  the  play,  but 
forces  it  to  join  in,  though  it  be  only  by  a  stern  glance.  The 
adult  should  mix  as  little  as  possible  with  the  play  of  the  child, , 
and  leave  it  mostly  to  its  own  resources  and  ideas.  But  it 
should  not  be  accustomed  too  much  to  material  enjoyments, 
that  is,  spoiled.  It  should  find  appreciation  for  good  work,  but 
it  should  not  be  rewarded  by  sensual  joys,  or  compensated  for 
every  exertion ;  it  should  learn  by-and-by  to  look  upon  the 
feeling  of  satisfaction  which  follows  every  labor  that  has  been 
well  done,  as  the  best  and  only  reward.  Not  until  education 
has  found  an  opportunity  of  drawing  the  pupil's  attention  to 
his  better  self  by  deeply  impressive  approval  (not  exactly 
praise)  will  it  work  well.  Censure  will  not  find  willing  ears 
until  it  has  ceased  to  stand  alone  as  a  minus  quantity ;  let  it 
threaten  to  demolish,  in  part,  approval  already  gained,  and  the 
effect  will  be  much  greater.  Thus,  he  only  will  feel  the  pres- 
sure of  self-reproach  who  has  gained  some  self-respect,  and  is 
afraid  of  losing  it.  The  pupil  who  is  only  censured  will  grow 
ill-humored  when  the  teacher  will  not  take  him  as  he  is.  Fen- 
elon,  the  tutor  of  the  princes  of  France,  only  succeeded  in 
curing  his  princely  pupil  of  his  ugly  traits  by  not  withholding 
approval  of  his  good  qualities,  and  encouraging  him  in  their 
exercise.  Fenelon  justly  observed  that  the  tutor  should  attempt 
less  to  gain  the  fear  than  the  love  of  his  pupils,  as  man  will 


EXTREME    HAB1TUATION.  89 

easily  adopt  the  manners  and  thoughts  of  those  he  loves. 
Time  devoted  to  play  should  not  be  offered  too  often  and  in 
too  large  quantities.  Herbart  says  it  requires  but  little  to 
please  children  in  various  ways  when  great  temperance  is  the 
daily  habit,  and  Lazarus  truly  remarks  :  "  Man  should  be  accus- 
tomed to  enjoyment  of  life,  but  not  to  a  life  of  enjoyment" 
The  spoiling  of  a  child  by  frequent,  unnecessary  pleasures,  by 
artificial  enjoyments  which  do  not  include  somewhat  of  labor 
and  practice,  is  detrimental,  because  the  dulness  of  sensitive 
feeling  which  is  engendered  thereby  does  away  with  many 
small  aids  to  discipline,  which  can  be  used  with  good  result  by 
children  not  thus  spoiled.  Very  early  the  crying  of  children 
should  not  be  hushed  every  time  by  all  sorts  of  quieting  meas- 
ures and  small  pleasures,  only  that  the  mother  and  all  others 
present  may  not  be  disturbed.  Rousseau  says  :  "  So  long  as 
the  child  cries  I  do  not  go  to  it  at  all,  but  I  return  to  it  the 
moment  it  ceases.  Soon  it  will  call  me  by  being  quiet,  or  per- 
haps uttering  only  a  single  cry."  Children  determine  the  mean- 
ing of  their  cries  by  their  visible  effects ;  they  have  no  other 
test.  A  child  will  rarely  cry  if  it  is  alone,  no  matter  how 
severely  it  has  hurt  itself,  unless  it  hopes  to  be  heard.  If  the 
child  sees  that  we  are  greatly  worried  about  it,  and  console  and 
pity  jt, .  it  will  deem  itself  lost ;  but  if  we  make  no  great 
ado  about  it,  it  will  soort  forget  the  pain.  Wilfulness  is  often 
trained  into  older  children  by  granting  that  which  should  be 
denied,  through  weakness,  or  a  desire  to  have  rest  from  the 
pleadings  of  the  child. 

Thus  have  we  arrived  at  the  last  stage  of  our  investigation, 
which  concerns  the  injuriousness  of  habituation  when  carried 
to  the  extreme.  We  saw  that  not  only  bad  habits,  but  all 
which  were  carried  to  the  extreme,  have  an  injurious  effect, 
especially  on  the  emotions.  This  latter  point  we  will  look  at  a 
little  closer. 

Feeling  is  "  the  manner  in  which  consciousness  or  self-con- 


QO  HABIT   IN    EDUCATION. 

sciousness  every  moment  reacts  on  what  is  taking  place  within." 
The  conception  itself  always  expresses  only  the  immediate 
reciprocal  effect  of  a  connection  of  consciousness  with  the 
external  world.  The  emotions,  however,  picture  the  manner 
in  which  the  consciousness,  by  reason  of  its  entire  condition, 
its  lasting  and  momentary  inclinations,  receives  the  reciprocal 
effect.  .  .  .  Wundleband  says  :  "  Every  conception  is  in  a  cer- 
tain relation  to  the  whole  psychical  system  in  which  it  appears, 
and  this  relation  is  expressed  in  the  accompanying  emotion. 
We  can,  in  general,  distinguish  three  theories  concerning  the 
emotions,  among  which  there  are,  however,  manifold  connec- 
tions and  mediations :  i .  The  emotions  are  a  special  action 
of  the  faculty  of  perception,  a  dark  perceptive  power.  2.  The 
emotions  proceed  from  a  reciprocal  action  of  the  conceptions. 
3.  The  emotions  are  the  condition  in  which  the  soul  is  placed 
by  its  conceptions  and  perceptions."  This  view  is  very  ancient, 
and  can  be  found  expressed  in  the  old  theory  of  the  soul's  pow- 
ers. A  distinct  peculiarity  of  emotional  life  is  that  it  continu- 
ally vibrates  between  the  opposites  of  pleasure  and  displeasure, 
and  is  heightened  in  intensity  by  the  contrast.  A  person  who 
has  been  sick  feels  more  comfort  on  the  return  of  his  health 
than  one  who  rejoices  in  steady  good  health.  Preceding  sor- 
row causes  joy,  and  vice  versa,  former  happiness,  present  mis- 
fortune, and  pain,  to  be  felt  far  mofe  keenly.  The  hatred 
which  develops  from  the  change  of  former  love  is  the  most 
severe.  Campe  explains  the  phenomena,  that  things  which 
formerly  impressed  us  with  decided  displeasure,  then  grew 
bearable  and  indifferent,  finally  even  pleasant,  or  that  what  was 
formerly  pleasant  may  gradually  have  an  unpleasant  effect, 
because  the  contrast,  which  was  very  strong  in  the  beginning, 
grows  weaker  after  some  time.  As  an  example  of  the  former 
case  he  mentions  that  galley-slaves  do  not  feel  their  terrible  fate 
as  much  after  ten  years  as  on  the  first  day,  and  in  proof  of  the 
latter  he  cites  Shakespeare's,  "  If  the  entire  year  consisted  of 


EXTREME    HABITUATION.  Ql 

holy  play-days,  celebrations  would  be  as  noxious  as  labor." 
Pleasures,  of  whatever  kind,  are  subject  to  the  motto,  "  variatio 
delectat."  Sensual,  as  well  as  higher  emotions,  require  a  change, 
if  they  shall  continue  in  their  original  strength.  If  this  change 
is  not  offered,  the  reaction  of  consciousness  on  the  inner  action, 
the  emotion,  will  grow  weaker  in  proportion  to  the  frequency  of 
its  repetition  in  a  similar  manner ;  and  will  finally  change  to 
the  exact  opposite  ;  we  lose  the  interest  in  things  which  always 
bring  us  the  same  impressions ;  they  grow  indifferent,  tiresome, 
and  finally  excite  disgust  and  repugnance  ;  the  highest  joy  and 
the  strongest  passion  are  weakened  by  time,  and  we  gradually 
grow  accustomed  to  the  pain  which  was  at  first  very  severe. 

The  pedagogue  must  bear  this  fact  in  mind.  The  pupil 
should  be  granted  a  change,  not  only  from  exertion  to  recrea- 
tion, "concentration  and  recollection,"  but  also  in  the  manner 
of  his  recreation  and  play  as  well  as  the  mode  of  his  exertion. 
The  time  devoted  to  a  certain  subject  of  instruction,  a  single 
work,  cannot  be  abnormally  lengthened.  The  pupil  should  not 
do  now  this,  now  that,  and  thus  weaken  his  powers,  but  neither 
should  the  instruction  and  the  repetition  be  made  tiresome  to 
him ;  his  interest  must  be  continually  kept  alive  by  an  illumi- 
nation of  different  points  of  the  same  subject.  "  To  be  tire- 
some is  the  greatest  crime  of  the  instructor." 

Every  conception  has,  so  to  say,  a  maximum  of  clearness  for 
each  separate  person ;  if  we  attempt  to  retain  it  in  conscious- 
ness long  after  it  has  reached  this  point,  we  must  use  great 
exertion,  and  may  not  succeed  after  all.  On  the  contrary,  a 
condition  will  be  produced  which  permits  just  those  concep- 
tions contrasting  to  the  former  ones  to  arise. 

The  same  is  shown  in  the  mental  life  of  nations  and  man- 
kind. When  an  idea  has  reached  the  highest  point  of  its 
power,  and  rules  the  separate  minds,  taking  up  a  great  deal  of 
their  attention,  the  antithetical  one  will  gradually  appear,  grow 
in  strength  and  develop  its  greatest  power  when  the  first  has 


92  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

decayed  and  outlived  itself.  In  after  ages  it  may  again  appear. 
K.  Schmid,  in  speaking  of  the  difference  between  modern 
enlightenment  and  that  of  former  times,  remarks :  "  One  ex- 
treme calls  forth  the  other.  The  religious  mental  powers  draw 
too  firmly  and  too  much  in  the  same  direction  during  the 
period  of  the  abstract  theological  view  of  the  world  and  educa- 
tion ;  they  awaken  the  similarly  one-sided  thinking  powers,  and 
these  now  assume  the  judgment-seat  to  inquire  how  they  may 
be  justified  by  the  former  existence  of  science,  and  what  has 
been  historically  developed,  and  is  actually  present  in  general. 
The  mind  criticises  the  existing  religion,  and  before  this  criti- 
cism the  positive  truths  of  the  latter  are  dissolved  into  general 
intellectual  expressions." 

Habit  dulls  the  feeling  for  rewards,  and  still  more  that  for 
punishments ;  the  teacher  should  therefore  see  that  he  does 
not  use  too  strict  measures  in  the  beginning,  but  according  to 
circumstances,  make  use  of  admonitions,  threats,  and  mild 
reproofs,  and  only  when  these  are  of  no  avail  employ  sterner 
punishments  to  insure  a  gradation  to  himself.  Waitz  says : 
"  We  should  never  use  a  stronger  measure  when  we  can  get 
along  with  a  weaker  one."  But  he  advises  severe  measures 
from  the  beginning  when  it  is  intended  to  obviate  the  bad 
results  of  a  former  too  lenient  training. 

Physical  punishments  were  particularly  in  vogue  before  the 
Reformation.  Thomas  Platter,  in  his  autobiography,  gives  a 
sad  description  of  this  fact.  Even  some  time  after  the  Refor- 
mation the  motto  "  He  who  loves  his  child  should  punish  it " 
was  generally  followed.  In  the  last  century,  when  the  philan- 
thropists who  received  their  name  from  their  desire  to  make 
instruction  easy  for  the  pupils,  arose,  the  schoolmaster  Hauberle 
in  a  small  city  of  Swabia  made  a  note  of  the  punishments  he 
had  inflicted  during  an  activity  of  52  years.  He  gave  911,527 
strokes  with  a  cane,  124,010  cuts  with  a  rattan,  20,989  cuts  on 
fingers  and  hands  with  the  ruler,  136,715  strokes -with  his  hand, 


EXTREME    HABITUATION.  93 

10,235  strokes  on  the  mouth,  7,905  boxes  on  the  ear,  1,115,800 
punches  of  the  head,  and  22,763  extras  with  Bible,  catechism, 
hymn-book,  and  grammar ;  777  times  he  had  boys  kneel  on  peas, 
and  613  times  on  three-cornered  pieces  of  wood ;  5,001  had  to 
wear  the  dunce-cap,  and  1,707  hold  up  the  rattan ;  800,000  of 
the  cuts  with  the  cane  were  given  for  Latin  vocables,  and  76,000 
of  the  rattan  strokes  for  biblical  texts  and  verses  from  the 
hymnal.  He  made  use  of  about  3,000  invectives  and  words  of 
abuse,  of  which  his  native  tongue  supplied  about  two-thirds,  and 
one-third  were  due  to  his  own  invention.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  have  the  words  of  "  Walther  von  der  Wogelweide,"  "  No  one 
can  train  the  child  with  the  rod " ;  and  Amos  Comenius's 
remark,  "  Blows  and  strokes  have  not  the  power  to  bring  love 
for  the  sciences  into  the  heads  of  children,  but  may  often  cause 
a  disgust  for  them."  Bain  says :  "  Pain  is  a  waste  of  brain 
power,  while  the  work  of  the  student  requires  the  highest  form 
of  this  power.  Whatever  the  punishment  accomplishes  is  at 
the  cost  of  a  great  loss  of  power,  which  loss  increases  when  the 
punishment  is  looked  upon  with  actual  fear.  Every  one  has 
perhaps  met  with  cases  in  which  a  pupil  was  rendered  wholly 
unfit  to  finish  the  given  work  by  fear." 

The  moral  feeling,  the  conscience,  is  often  like  the  emotions 
and  the  feelings  of  honor  weakened  by  habit,  as  the  latter 
causes  greater  negligence  in  the  examination  of  motives.  The 
higher  aesthetic  feeling  needs  change.  Works  of  art  must  be 
viewed  from  various  points,  if  the  enjoyment  of  them  is  to 
remain  the  same.  Religious  instruction  is  destined  to 
offer  man  the  highest  things  and  touch  the  mind  in  all  its 
depths  :  to  gain  this  the  teacher  should  take  into  consideration 
not  only  the  influence  of  the  hours  of  the  day,  and  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  pupil,  and  therefore  choose  a  proper  time  when  the 
mental  functions  have  not  grown  weary  by  many  preceding 
hours  of  study ;  but  the  hours  of  instruction  should  not  occur 
too  frequently.  The  instruction  in  religion  should  compare  to 


94  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

the  other  lessons  as  Sunday  to  the  week  days.  Teacher  and 
pupil  must  approach  it  with  a  solemn  feeling.  The  feeling  of 
solemnity  and  elevation  can,  however,  at  least  with  children, 
only  be  deep  and  continue  in  the  same  intensity  for  some  time, 
when  its  repetition  does  not  take  place  too  often.  Nothing  can 
affect  us  with  solemnity  which  has  in  any  way  become  a  habit ; 
not  every  day  can  be  a  Sabbath ;  only  the  unusual  retains  the 
power  of  taking  entire  possession  of  the  soul.  Lessing  says  in 
one  of  his  works  :  "  Only  that  will  impress  us  as  miraculous,  a 
conception  of  which  appears  but  rarely  in  the  chain  of  our 
ideas.  On  a  diligent  student  of  the  Bible  the  greatest  miracle 
which  is  described  in  the  Scriptures  will  no  longer  make  the 
same  impression  as  it  did  the  first  time  he  heard  or  read  it.  ... 
The  miracle  remains  the  same,  but  our  frame  of  mind  changes 
when  we  think  it  over  too  often."  This  is  not  contradictory  to 
what  has  been  said  before :  the  adult  will  find  the  more  sup- 
ports for  his  religious  belief,  the  oftener  he  has  experienced  the 
love,  wisdom,  and  omnipotence  of  his  Creator  in  his  own  life. 

The  new  physiologic-psychology  has  shown  the  importance  of 
the  so-called  psycho-physical  law.  This  shows  that  the  strength 
of  the  emotion  does  not  increase  in  the  same  measure  as  the 
external  irritation,  but  that  mathematically  expressed,  the  emo- 
tions grow  like  the  logarithms  when  the  irritations  increase  in 
their  intensity  like  the  figures,  or  that  the  emotion  grows  like 
the  logarithm  of  the  irritation.  This  law  is  of  great  importance 
not  only  for  the  impressions  of  the  senses,  but  also  for  the 
emotions  and  the  will.  Already  in  the  last  century,  Daniel 
Bernouille  and  Laplace  remarked  that  the  inner  feeling  of  hap- 
piness, which  Laplace  calls  "  fortune  morale,"  is  proportional 
to  the  logarithm  of  external  possessions,  "  fortune  physique," 
or  in  other  words,  that  the  satisfaction  grows  in  arithmetical 
progression,  when  the  possession  is  increased  in  geometrical 
progression;  viz.,  a  man  who  owns  $1,000  and  gains  $100 
more  has  the  same  feeling  of  satisfaction  which  another  who 


EXTREME    IIABITUATION.  95 

owns  only  £100  and  gains  $10  more,  feels.  If  this  feeling  is 
not  retained  by  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  same  intensity, 
or  strengthened,  a  craving  for  it  will  grow  to  a  strong  power  and 
seek  satisfaction.  In  the  same  way  in  which  this  is  the  case 
with  the  external  material  possessions  it  will  also  happen  with 
ambition,  the  mental  possession  we  have  in  the  souls  of  others 
(the  "enlarging  of  self-confidence  in  and  through  others"). 
The  craving  for  honor  and  renown  grows  in  increasing  degrees 
the  more  man  has  already  accomplished. 

In  the  description  of  characters  such  as  Napoleon  I.,  too 
little  regard  is  often  paid  to  the  fact  that  these  phenomena  are 
based  on  a  psychological  law.  A  man  who  rose  so  high  must 
find  it  difficult,  even  impossible,  to  control  the  unmeas- 
ured growth  of  the  craving  for  honor  and  ambition.  In  the 
same  way,  his  contempt  of  mankind  which  is  so  often  mentioned, 
is  explained  to  a  large  degree  by  his  descent,  his  disposition  as 
a  cold  and  abstract-thinking  mathematician ;  furthermore,  by 
the  time  of  his  rising,  the  French  Revolution ;  and  finally,  by 
his  whole  life,  which,  on  innumerable  battle-fields,  hardened 
him,  and  rendered  him  insensible  to  the  sufferings  of  man. 
Even  Spencer,  although  he  particularly  says  that  the  emotions 
and  hate  prevent  correct  judgment,  and  gives  a  chapter  the 
special  heading  "The  Prejudices  of  Patriotism,"  does  not 
seem  to  be  free  from  such  prejudices  when  he  pictures  Napo- 
leon I.  as  dark  as  he  does  in  his  "  Introduction  to  the  Study 
of  Sociology." 

Doubtless  these  phenomena  deserve  the  attention  of  the 
pedagogue.  The  wishes  of  the  pupils  are  to  be  turned  aside 
in  many  ways,  and  diversion  should  be  offered  them  by  a  change 
of  the  conceptions,  so  that  the  desire  bound  to  a  narrow  space 
will  not  grow  with  too  great  rapidity.  Kern  says :  "  Every 
conception  may  be  followed  by  a  desire.  The  more  change 
there  is  in  the  world  of  ideas,  the  more  will  one  desire  supplant 
another ;  the  more  the  circle  of  thoughts  is  widened,  the  larger 


96  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

also  will  be  the  range  of  desire ;  and  the  oftener  a  certain 
desire  returns,  the  more  foundation  will  the  idea  with  which  it 
is  connected  gain,  and  the  stronger  will  it  therefore  grow.  If 
it  is  not  suppressed  by  another  desire  or  by  conceptions  which 
are  more  powerful  than  those  on  which  it  depends,  it  will  not 
cease  until  it  has  been  satisfied." 

The  child  should,  therefore,  not  be  spoiled  by  material  enjoy- 
ments, because  his  wishes  widen  and  grow  in  the  same  propor- 
tion in  which  they  are  satisfied.  The  better  pupils  should 
early  be  protected  against  immeasurable  ambition  and  egotism. 
As  oft-repeated  desires  and  strong  passions  grow  to  an  immense 
strength,  and  can,  as  is  well  known,  "  put  things  info  man's 
head,"  so  the  conceptions  connected  with  them  will  grow  to 
"  fixed  ideas  "  which  continually  increase  in  possession  of  the 
domain  of  consciousness,  and  finally  lead  to  complete  insanity. 

Aside  from  these  pathological  phenomena  every  extreme 
habituation  has  a  very  harmful  influence  on  the  intellectual  life 
by  narrowing  the  circle  of  conceptions,  allowing  man  to  grow 
rusty  in  the  old  relations  and  views,  and  making  a  pedant  of 
him.  Firm,  rigid  lines  are  formed  wherever  a  small  number 
of  conceptions  return  uniformly  in  greater  degrees  of  clearness. 
Hence  arises  that  stiff  pedantry  which  threatens  schoolmen, 
chancery  clerks,  etc.,  especially  when  aided  by  the  melancholy 
or  phlegmatic  temperament  found  here  quite  as  often  as  it  is 
rare  among  artists  and  practitioners  of  every  kind,  whose 
vocations  press  them  on  to  ever-new  combinations.  Women 
are  less  liable  to  pedantry  than  men. 

The  union  of  the  conceptions  of  words,  and  the  designations 
of  objects,  is  especially  close,  so  that  to  many  it  seems  identical. 
For  those  who  know  only  their  mother  tongue  it  must  seem 
almost  incomprehensible  how  the  object  which  is  not  only 
called  bread,  but  actually  is  bread,  can  be  called  differently  in 
another  language.  The  habits  of  thought,  which  otherwise,  as 
artifices,  are  of  great  advantage  to  the  rapidity  of  the  intellectual 


EXTREME    HABITUATION.  97 

functions,  can  also  lead  to  extreme  one-sidedness  and  cause 
manifold  disappointments.  Thus  the  mathematician  will  some- 
times treat  everything  after  the  method  of  his  science.  "  In 
handling  questions  that  the  concrete  sciences  offer,  he  recog- 
nizes only  a  few  of  the  factors,  quietly  gives  these  a  positiveness 
which  they  do  not  possess,  and  proceeds  in  a  mathematical  way 
by  drawing  positive  decisions  from  these  premises  as  though 
they  were  specific  and  sufficient."  —  Herbert  Spencer. 

He  who  never  left  his  native  home,  who  never  had  an  op- 
portunity of  recognizing  "  many  men's  minds,"  remains  bound 
in  the  conceptional  range  of  his  parents  and  ancestors.  Among 
the  higher  classes  the  views  concerning  social  rank  which 
are  developed  by  inheritance,  education,  condition,  and  habit, 
grow  to  rank-prejudices  if  the  pupil  is  not  early  enough  ac- 
quainted with  a  wider  outlook.  Not  only  instruction,  but  even 
stern  measures  of  discipline,  are  sometimes  needed  to  conquer 
such  rank-prejudices.  Bain  investigates  the  "  Law  of  Rel- 
ativeness,"  which  is  of  value  to  the  emotions  (effect  of  contrast) 
as  well  as  to  the  mind,  and  the  most  distinct  characteristic 
feature  of  which  is  the  dependence  of  the  intensity  of  conscious- 
ness on  the  grade  of  transitions  from  one  impression  to  another. 
While  Hobbs  remarks,  "  It  is  almost  immaterial  to  a  person 
whether  he  always  perceives  the  same  object  or  nothing,"  Bain 
thinks  he  should  have  said  wholly,  for  it  is  a  well-known  fact 
that  an  unchanged  impression  on  our  senses,  if  lasting  any  length 
of  time,  has  the  same  influence  as  none  at  all.  "  A  change  of  the 
impression,"  he  says,  "  is  necessary  if  we  shall  grow  conscious 
of  it."  The  feeling  of  heat  is  no  absolute,  independent,  self- 
subsisting  condition  of  the  mind,  but  the  consequence  of  a 
transition  from  cold  ;  the  perception  of  light  is  dependent  on  a 
transition  from  darkness  or  shade  into  light.  To  use  a  common 
.  example,  a  watch-maker  is  not  conscious  of  the  uninterrupted 
ticking  of  his  watches  ;  but  if  they  suddenly  all  stopped,  he  would 
become  aware  of  the  pause.  In  exertions  of  mind  and  body 


98  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

the  ability  is  greatest  immediately  after  the  condition  of  rest. 
The  power  is  at  its  height  when  the  renewed  nerves  start  afresh, 
and  sinks  the  more  we  approach  the  point  of  exhaustion. 

From  this  hypothesis  we  may  picture  to  ourselves  that,  when 
all  the  parts  of  the  brain  are  in  perfect  equilibrium  and  constantly 
remain  on  the  same  height,  when  none  begin  to  grow  stronger 
or  weaker,  consciousness  or  feeling  will  be  zero,  the  mind  will  be 
at  rest.  A  disturbance  of  this  condition  awakens  consciousness 
for  a  time  ;  a  further  interruption  gives  it  a  new  impulse,  and  so 
on  :  besides,  the  variety  of  the  impressions  influencing  the  mind 
in  a  waking  condition  will  prevent  perfect  equilibrium  from 
again  taking  place.  In  unison  with  this  is  the  nature  of  the 
mind,  so  rich  in  changes ;  the  line  of  consciousness  may  be 
more  easily  likened  to  a  series  of  explosions  than  a  quiet,  steady 
stream.  The  fact  that  we  generally  retain  the  impression  of 
rest  is  only  due  to  the  excitement's  being  so  unimportant  and 
temperate  ;  as  soon  as  the  intensity  of  feeling  increases,  the  ex- 
plosive character  becomes  very  prominent. 

The  mind  begins  to  work  by  distinguishing.  The  conscious- 
ness of  difference  is  the  beginning  of  every  mental  activity.  To 
receive  a  new  impression  is  to  notice  changes.  Man  has  a  power 
of  distinguishing  more  or  less  fineness  in  sight,  sounds,  smell, 
taste,  and  touch  impressions.  Here  is  the  deepest  cause  of  the 
inequality  in  intellectual  powers,  as  well  as  the  variety  in  the 
directions  of  taste.  The  fineness  and  tenderness  in  the  feeling 
of  difference  is  the  measure  for  the  variety  and  number  of  our 
first  impressions,  and  therefore  of  our  treasured  memories.  A 
too  long  continuation  of  the  same  impression  is  followed  by  a 
weakening  of  consciousness;  and  monotony,  as  is  well  known, 
has  a  stupefying  effect.  Everything  new  and  strange  will  awaken 
our  attention  and  our  interest  more  than  the  habitual  impres- 
sions which  we  received  from  the  old  accustomed  conditions ; 
the  logical  thinking-power  and  energy  are  hereby  challenged  to 
activity  and  fired  on.  Inversely  logical  processes  of  thought 


EXTREME    HABITUATION.  99 

which  took  place  frequently  grow  to  associated  ones  in  which 
the  will  is  less  active.  Actions  which  were  formerly  performed 
with  the  conscious  will  are  gradually  transformed  by  habit  into 
reflex  motions,  become  fixed,  and  are  in  this  form  transmitted 
as  dispositions  to  later  generations.  Habit  is  its  own  worst 
enemy,  because  old  habits  oppose  the  introduction  of  new  ones. 
Extreme  habituation  also  has  a  detrimental  effect  on  the  will- 
activity,  because  it  permits  it  to  come  forward  less,  and  changes 
all  thoughts  and  actions  into  mechanical  ones,  robs  man  of  his 
free  self-determination,  and  makes  a  slave  of  him.  A  servile 
education  can,  in  the  most  favorable  cases,  only  create  a  series 
of  good,  steady  habits,  which  themselves,  aside  from  the  fact 
that  they  are  only  means  for  morality  and  not  this  itself,  leave 
men  in  the  lurch  in  extraordinary  cases  and  a  prey  to  perplex- 
ing indecision. 

Now,  undoubtedly,  mechanism  in  thought  and  action  is  not 
to  be  absolutely  rejected.  Power  is  saved  by  many  mechanically 
executed  functions  which  may  be  of  use  in  other  directions. 
Wundt  therefore  describes  it  as  an  important  aid  which  the 
associations  give  to  the  logical  thought-processes  performed 
with  conscious  will,  by  forming  on  the  one  hand  the  preparation 
for  apperceptive  union  (what  is  uniformly  united  in  time  and 
space  will  with  pre-eminent  ease  also  be  united  in  the  function 
of  judgment),  and  on  the  other  hand  by  taking  the  place  of 
these  processes  after  they  have  repeatedly  happened.  Further- 
more, certain  purposes  are  reached  by  mechanism  as  well  as  by 
the  conscious  will-action  ;  yes,  sometimes  more  easily  and  surely, 
because  reflection  does  not  disturb  them  by  coming  between, 
causing  delay,  or  leading  astray  by  mistakes.  Finally,  man  is 
often  brought  to  himself  and  led  to  conscious,  energetic  thought 
and  action  by  labors  which  he  at  first  performed  mechanically. 
Educators  and  teachers  should,  however,  favor  mere  mechan- 
ism as  little  in  all  other  psycho-physical  processes  as  in  the 
thoughtless  memorizing  of  that  which  the  pupil  has  not 


IOO  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

understood  and  comprehended.  Lazarus  points  out  that  even 
in  teaching  writing  and  reading,  all  that  is  written  or  read 
should  contain  nothing  incomprehensible  to  the  child.  He 
thinks,  "No  conception  should  enter  the  head  that  is  not 
understood."  Roschow  writes,  "  Only  the  comprehension  of 
what  is  taught  renders  instruction  useful."  Daily  experience 
teaches  us  that  we  generally  think  least  about  what  we  formerly 
adopted  mechanically ;  that,  therefore,  what  is  thoughtlessly 
acquired  in  most  cases  receives  no  further  thought. 


HABIT    AND    FREE    WILL.  IOI 


CHAPTER   X. 

HABIT  AND  FREE  WILL. 

GENIUS.  INSANITY. 

HAS  not  all  education  this  one  purpose,  that  the  pupil  shall 
do  consciously,  and  with  free  self-decision,  what  moral  instruc- 
tion impresses  upon  him,  what  in  the  beginning,  however, 
he  does  only  by  compulsion  from  parents  or  teachers,  as  well 
as  from  habit  ?  Education  should  create  a  will  which  harmo- 
nizes with  the  insight  determined  by  the  moral  ideas.  The  intel- 
ligence formed  by  instruction  should  not  be  an  idle  one,  but 
should  pass  into  the  will,  and  therefore  education  does  not 
want  a  will  so  much  as  a  will  proceeding  from  the  moral  intelli- 
gence. "  Education  must  enable  the  youth  to  enjoy  the  liberty 
of  self-decision."  Spencer  demands  the  personal  action  of 
the  pupil  in  contrast  to  mere  reproductive  reception  during  the 
time  of  instruction ;  the  child  itself  shall  learn  to  observe. 
Montaigne  and  Rousseau  demanded,  above  all,  independent 
judgment  of  the  pupil.  The  former  laid :  "  The  bees  gather 
sweets  from  the  flowers  here  and  there,  but  they  make  honey 
thereof  which  is  entirely  their  own ; .  it  is  neither  thyme  nor 
gentian.  In  the  same  way  the  pupil  will  change  and  transform 
that  which  he  borrows  from  others,  and  make  therefrom  a  work 
wholly  his  own.  The  man  shall  not  retain  the  jurare  in  rcr/>a 
magistri  as  the  main  principles  of  his  thoughts  and  quiet  himself 
with  the  ipse  dixit,  but  shall  understand  how  to  form  an  inde- 
pendent judgment  for  himself !"  It  is  true  the  antmal  by  aid  of 
its  instinct  easily  and  surely  performs  useful  actions,  and  the 
man  proceeding  in  a  mere  mechanical  way  often  reaches  the 


IO2  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

goal  more  quickly  than  he  who  attempts  to  gain  a  perfect  com- 
prehension of  the  causes  and  consequences  of  his  actions  by 
reflections.  It  may  be  true,  for  example,  that  the  laborer  would 
not  perform  his  labor  better  and  quicker  than  he  now  does  if  lie 
knew  exactly  how  his  psycho-physical  organism,  his  nerves, 
muscles,  etc.,  were  acting,  what  value  his  action  has  for  mankind 
in  general,  and  the  state  in  particular  and  what  place  the  results 
of  his  labor  occupy  in  the  commerce  of  the  world,  but  it  is  sim- 
ply more  worthy  of  a  man  to  know  why,  how,  and  wherefore 
he  thinks  and  does  this,  or  allows  that  process  to  go  on.  Most 
persons  will  here  perhaps  be  reminded  of- Schiller's  words :  — 

"  We  must  despise  the  idle  man 
Who  never  thinks  of  how  he  deals; 
For  this  is  still  what  graces  man, 
For  which  alone  his  mind  expands, 
That  in  his  inmost  heart  he  feels 
What  he  created  with  his  hands." 

The  conceptions  of  the  cause,  the  means,  and  the  reason, 
need  not  be  clear  in  the  mind  during  the  function  itself,  and 
man  need  not  render  to  himself  an  account  of  every  minute 
particular  of  his  actions  every  moment  of  his  life.  After  the 
plan  has  once  been  thoroughly  considered  and  adopted,  reflec- 
tion should  no  longer  interrupt  the  action.  But  these  concep- 
tions should  always  remain  on  the  outskirts  of  consciousness  and 
be  ready  to  be  raised  to  clear  consciousness  on  any  inducement ; 
while  we  use  the  mechanism  of  the  body  and  the  mental 
processes  to  reach  our  object  quickly  and  easily. 

If,  now,  we  finally  consider  the  culmination  of  all  human  men- 
tal action,  Genius,  we  shall  find  that  here  also  habitude  may 
have  fatal  results.  If  the  practitioner  needs  in  every  action 
ever  new  combinations  and  different  ways  of  employing  the 
acquired  knowledge  which  habit  does  not  give  him,  Genius  is 
also  distinguished  by  the  rapid  and  unusual  combination  of  the 
various  elements  of  the  mental  matter  which  outer  and  inner 


HABIT   AND   FREE   WILL.  IO3 

experience  have  given  it.  All  clever  remarks  and  humor,  as 
well  as  their  results,  depend  on  the  newness  and  the  uncom- 
monness  of  the  union  of  separate  elements  of  experience.  The 
difference  between  these  and  the  action  of  genius  is,  however, 
determined  by  the  lower  or  higher  degree  of  value  which  they 
have  for  things  universally,  the  progress  of  culture  in  a  nation, 
and  mankind  generally.  It  is  the  newness  and  originality  of 
such  combinations  which  distinguish  the  mentally  conspicuous 
from  the  "  en  gross  "  men  who  habitually  form  only  the  same  or 
slightly  modified  combinations  as  education  and  life  have  taught 
them  and  as  the  general  custom  seems  to  be.  "Thoughts  live 
very  close  together  "  in  the  minds  of  genius  and  can  easily  enter 
into  combination.  And  this  ease  in  changing  and  combining  is 
prevented  by  habit,  which  appoints  to  every  conception  its  dis- 
tinct dwelling-place  in  a  larger  community. 

Where  conceptions  are  directed  by  lines  to  certain  places 
and  courses,  that  free  mobility  on  which  their  combination  into 
new  forms  rests  is  excluded.  The  mental  or  habitual  firmness 
of  the  lines  destroys  the  fluidity  which  lends  its  charm  to  the 
rising  conceptions.  To  this  may  be  added,  that  lines  which 
are  frequently  reproduced  unchanged,  finally  lead  their  links 
past  us  so  rapidly  that  an  investigation  of  their  condition  is  no 
longer  possible ;  and  we  are  as  much  at  a  loss  to  comprehend 
the  action  after  it  has  passed  by  as  before  it  began.  The  close 
blending  of  lines  of  this  order  almost  deprives  them  of  their 
individual  character,  and  renders  them  similar  to  impressions  of 
the  whole,  in  which  all  is  simultaneously  seen,  or  heard,  or  felt. 

And  yet  education  can  do  a  great  deal  for  genius  ;  and  the 
formation  of  its  habits  is  of  the  utmost  importance. 

Comenius  says :  "  Genius  is  most  in  need  of  discipline  and 
education,  for  it  is  like  a  fertile  soil,  which,  unnurtured  and 
uncared  for,  bears  the  most  weeds,  the  most  thorns." 

We  evidently  go  too  far  when  we  deny  to  education  all  good 
influence  on  the  minds  of  genius,  as  Christman  declares ;  gen- 


IO4  HABIT   IN    EDUCATION. 

iuses  generally  have  teachers  who  possess  no  genius  themselves ; 
or,  as  Lichtenberg  says :  "  If  education  succeeded  in  wholly 
forming  the  children  under  its  influence,  we  should  soon  have 
no  more  great  men."  It  is  true,  that  the  disposition  which 
education  is  unable  to  create  must  have  existed  before,  and 
that  by  aid  of  this  the  pupil  may  outstrip  his  master ;  but  it  is 
likewise  known  that  a  want  of  good  education  causes  the  finest 
talents  to  become  weak,  and  is  the  cause  of  the  misfortune  of 
so  many  geniuses. 

Education  accustoms  the  genius  to  diligence,  by  which  alone 
he  may  hope  to  develop  the  powers  slumbering  within  him  ;  it 
teaches  him  to  beware  of  scattering  his  powers,  and  to  concen- 
trate his  actions  in  those  fields  to  which  his  eminent  talents 
particularly  point ;  but  it  does  not  confine  him  to  these  exclu- 
sively, and  gives  him  a  manifold  interest ;  it  forms  in  him  the 
disposition  for  order  and  regularity,  "  the  serious  guidance  of 
life."  In  consequence  of  the  rapid  "tempo  of  thinking,"  the 
easy  mobility  of  the  conceptions,  the  genius  is  often  in  danger 
of  too  great  mental  variability  and  distraction,  of  too  rapid 
changes  in  the  motives  for  actions,  and  in  these  themselves,  in 
feelings  and  wishes  whereby  a  moral  character  is  rendered  more 
difficult  of  attainment,  sometimes  even  impossible. 

An  attempt  to  bring  the  fundamental  disposition  into  a  steady 
relation  with  the  separate  feelings  and  passing  moods  leads  to 
the  contrast  between  comfortable  and  ingenious  natures.  The 
character  of  cheerfulness  is  the  result  of  a  firm,  almost  anxious 
hold  on  a  certain  fundamental  disposition,  which  generally  con- 
tains a  medium  share  of  seriousness  and  humor,  and  all  the 
local  tones  of  the  separate  feelings  and  moods  are  pitched 
according  to  this  fundamental  tone ;  while  in  ingenious  natures, 
the  fundamental  disposition  seems  to  be  abandoned  to  the 
power  of  momentary  humor  and  even  strong  single  feelings. 
The  one  makes  age  comfortable  or  peevish  ;  the  other  explains 
the  flood  and  ebb  tide  of  joy  great  as  the  heavens,  and  grief 


HABIT    AND    FREE    WILL.  10$ 

dark  as  the  grave  in  youthfully  animated  hearts.  A  cheerful, 
comfortable  disposition  impresses  us  with  a  certain  cordiality, 
while  the  variability  of  genius  appears  youthful ;  both  are  want- 
ing in  reverence  for  separate  feelings,  and  when  combined  with 
maturity,  they  appear  almost  abnormal.  In  so  far  as  good 
nature  consists  in  keeping  the  disposition  pure  and  clear,  it 
forms  the  complement  to  a  character  bent  on  the  purity  of 
demeanor ;  the  restlessness  of  genius  finds  more  than  a  mere 
complement  in  a  life  ruled  by  the  passions. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  development  and  retention 
of  a  moral  character  —  when  it  has  not  by  education  from  early 
youth  become  a  habit  —  requires  effort,  but  that  geniuses  use 
their  greatest  power  in  intellectual  labor.  Enhanced  mental 
efforts  cause  certain  reactions  which  explain  many  things. — 
Shakespeare's  and  Fielding's  Wild  Tavern  Life.  Jurgen  and 
Bona  Meyer. 

Education  enables  the  youth  to  control  himself,  and  by  habit 
to  acquire  firm  principles  for  the  basis  of  his  character.  The 
man  of  conspicuous  mental  capacity  is  destined  to  create  some- 
thing new,  and  raise  education  generally  to  a  higher  level ;  he  is, 
therefore,  in  advance  of  his  contemporaries,  and  often  not  under- 
stood by  them.  The  following  expression  of  Lessing's  is  well 
known  :  "  To  be  considered  a  great  mind  for  half  a  century 
after  one's  death  is  but  a  poor  proof  that  such  is  actually  the 
case  ;  but  to  be  thought  so  through  centuries  is  a  proof  not  to 
be  gainsaid.  The  contrary  is  likewise  true.  That  a  writer 
is  not  read  by  his  contemporaries  and  their  grandchildren  is  a 
misfortune,  but  not  yet  a  proof  against  his  worth ;  only  when 
the  grandchildren  of  the  grandchildren  should  never  care  to 
read  his  works,  then  is  it  true  that  he  never  deserved  to  be 
read." 

The  consciousness  of  a  man's  worth  comes  into  conflict  with 
external  circumstances  which  do  not  offer  him  the  necessary 
encouragement  or  the  opportunity  to  carry  out  his  reform  ideas  ; 


IO6  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

thus  great  irritation  is  apt  to  be  engendered  against  any  contra- 
diction he  may  meet  with  ;  also  undue  exaltation  and  an  over- 
valuing of  his  own  personal  worth. 

Rein,  in  speaking  of  Pestalozzi,  remarks  that  the  fault  of  all 
autodidactics  has  ever  been  one-sidedness,  and  an  over-valuing 
of  that,  which  left  to  their  own  resources,  they  discovered  with 
great  labor ;  stern  misfortunes,  together  with  the  consciousness 
of  pure  will,  render  a  rough  tone  more  pardonable ;  great  cele- 
brity and  praise  from  every  side  are  apt  to  make  men  irritable 
towards  rare  contradiction.  Genius  will  easily  adopt  the  ten- 
dency to  bitterness  and  variance  with  life  in  general,  which 
feeling  only  very  rarely  rises  to  the  nature  of  humor.  The  latter 
has  incorrectly  been  termed  the  height  of  true  genius,  and 
cultivated  as  such,  while  in  reality  it  is  only  a  decay,  an  arrest 
of  true  genius,  and  represents  only  a  passing  stage  within  it. 

In  the  rash  impulsiveness  of  youth  a  genius  will  attempt  to 
break  through  the  bounds  set  him,  and  thoughtlessly  battle 
against  necessity ;  where  he  is  deprived  of  the  opportunity  to 
do  this,  the  discord  within  him  leads  to  bitterness,  despair,  yes, 
even  to  an  over-clouding  of  the  mind,  insanity. 

The  similarity  between  genius  and  insanity  has  often  been 
pointed  out :  les  extremes  se  touchent;  the  mentally  deranged 
and  the  sick  person  are  in  nearly  related  conditions. 

Maudsley  studied  not  only  the  similarity  between  genius  and 
insanity,  as  well  as  other  eccentric  dispositions,  but  also  the 
relations  in  which  they  appear  to  each  other  in  heredity.  Strange 
to  say,  a  deeper  investigation  will  bring  the  result  that  original 
inspirations,  decided  evidences  of  a  talent,  or  even  of  genius, 
often  proceed  from  individuals  who  come  from  a  family  in 
which  there  was  a  certain  predisposition  to  insanity.  Such 
persons  can  take  up  and  develop  additional  ideas  which  a 
sober  brain  would  never  have  found,  and  by  the  aid  of  this 
side-light  discover  unsuspected  relations.  The  person  endowed 
with  a  temperament  disposed  to  insanity  may,  according  to 


HABIT   AND    FREE    WILL. 

circumstances,  either  grow  actually  insane  or  give  to  the  world 
new  ideas  and  deeds.  We  may  observe  that  one  member  of 
a  family,  because  he  entered  a  congenial  field  of  labor,  will  go 
through  life  undisturbed,  while  another  member  of  the  same 
family  falls  into  hopeless  insanity  because  he  is  less  fortunately 
placed.  It  frequently  happens  that  some  members  of  a  family 
are  actually  insane,  while  others  excel  by  an  eccentric  character 
or  are  conspicuous  for  some  time  by  an  excited  restless  demean- 
or, which  afterwards  changes  into  insanity. . .  .  The  disposition 
to  insanity  is  led  to  break  forth  into  actual  mental  derangement 
by  physical  pain,  the  pressure  of  external  conditions,  and  mental 
excitement  of  any  kind.  Maudsley  even  points  out  the  close 
relation  between  a  disposition  for  insanity  and  an  inclination 
towards  crime ;  he  shows  that  criminals  are  often  descended 
from  families  in  which  insanity  or  some  other  form  of  neurosis 
is  at  home,  and  that  there  have  been  cases  in  which  one  mem- 
ber of  a  family  became  insane  while  another  member  grew  into 
a  spendthrift,  a  worthless  fellow,  yes,  even  a  criminal.  He 
looks  upon  crime  in  such  cases  as  a  kind  of  fontanelle  by  which 
the  unhealthy  inclinations  of  the  criminal  find  vent :  such 
individuals  would  become  insane  if  they  did  not  turn  criminals, 
and  they  only  keep  free  of  insanity  by  becoming  criminals. 

A  proper  and  good  education  is  the  only  bulwark  against 
such  dangers;  it  gives  the  genius  a  feeling  of  respect  for 
authority  and  reigning  circumstances  ;  it  teaches  him  to  submit 
to  necessity  where  the  strife  cannot  benefit  mankind,  but  will 
only  bring  himself  unmeasured  harm  ;  it  enables  him  to  remain 
passive,  but  also  to  become  active  the  moment  his  action  may 
be  useful.  By  preparing  the  way  for  self-discipline  it  gives  him 
the  greatest  aid  in  the  strife  with  himself  and  life  in  general, 
retains  the  clearness  and  health  of  his  thoughts,  and  develops 
the  morality  of  his  character. 

Maudsley  and  many  others  call  our  attention  to  the  following 
fact.  The  education  of  the  intelligence  and  the  character  may 


IO8  HABIT    IN    EDUCATION. 

conquer  the  inherited  predisposition  for  insanity,  and  prevent 
crimes  from  taking  place,  by  training  and  disciplining  the 
"  insane  temper."  ...  If  we  carefully  give  to  the  will  the 
power  of  ruling  our  thoughts  and  feelings,  we  create  within 
ourselves  a  power  which  assures  us  of  continued  mental  health. 
The  power  of  the  will  will  even  aid  frequently  in  remedying  a 
disturbance  but  just  begun.  Returning  health  in  mental  disease 
is  always  announced  by  an  increase  of  will-power,  and  a  recov- 
ery of  complete  health  is  possible  when  the  derangement  is  not 
caused  by  organic  changes,  but  is  only  functional. 

Concerning  the  relation  of  separate  ingenious  actions  to  the 
mental  activity  of  the  masses,  Lazarus  is  no  doubt  right  when 
he  says  :  "  Ingenious  tact  finds  many  things  that  science  seeks 
in  vain.  But  the  time  has  come,  and  is  well  prepared,  for  an 
advance  from  ingenious  tact  to  methodical  discipline,  and  a 
transformation  of  the  sporadic  labors  of  genius  into  the  work 
of  a  special,  conscious,  continuing,  and  uniformly  rising  science. 
.  .  .  Though  the  genius  retain  his  exclusive  position,  he  can- 
not procure  a  general  currency  for  his  ideas  unless  he  finds  men 
who  will  take  the  trouble  to  accustom  the  present  and  future 
generations  to  the  reception  and  development  of  these  ideas." 

The  true  greatness  of  prominent  men  does  not  consist  in  their 
being  praised  and  flattered  by  their  contemporaries  and  pos- 
terity, in  their  celebrated  name  resounding  through  the  land, 
but  in  the  fact  that  future  generations  —  particularly  the  edu- 
cated classes  —  receive  their  ideas  and  make  them  their  own. 

The  man  of  great  mental  capacity,  prominent  above  others, 
scatters  his  thoughts  abroad ;  but  it  is  the  business  of  the  edu- 
cators and  teachers  to  lighten  the  soil  and  prepare  the  ground, 
that  the  seed  of  ideas  may  be  received  and  bear  good  fruit. 
Beside  the  restlessly  progressive  power  creating  new  things 
must  be  another  which  protects  it  from  excesses,  keeps  it  in 
bounds,  and  by  quiet  steady  labor  lets  mankind  in  general 
recognize  the  value  of  the  good  the  former  has  created,  without 
entirely  overthrowing  the  existing  order  of  thjr^v 


HABIT    AND    FREE    WILL. 

Many  a  one  who  expressed  new  and  original  ideas  lacked 
the  power  of  realizing  them  and  practically  applying  the  rules 
he  himself  gave  (Rousseau,  Pestalozzi,  etc.) .  Genius  in  art  and 
science  is  little  adapted  to  practical  business.  Though  the 
poet  J.  Von  Zedlitz  claims  that  nothing  great  is  accomplished 
in  this  world  without  enthusiasm,  the  words  of  Jean  Paul,  who 
says.  "  Only  the  whole  is  created  by  enthusiasm ;  its  parts  are 
developed  by  calm  thought,"  are  no  less  tins  !  Reform  ideas 
will  find  a  willing  reception  only  when  genius  does  not  want 
practical  men  who  realize  his  thoughts  in  calm,  steady  action ; 
when  a  restraining  and  calm  power  accompanies  the  one  regard- 
lessly  assaulting  existing  affairs.  Thus  the  impetuous  Luther 
found  a  true  friend  and  assistant  in  the  calm  Melanchthon,  who, 
with  his  usual  clearness,  perspicuity,  and  knowledge,  gave  the 
world-moving  ideas  of  the  Reformation  their  dogmatic  expres- 
sion, and  in  theology  as  well  as  philosophy  became  the  "  teacher 
of  Germany." 

Maudsley  truly  remarks  that  "  the  ideal  world  of  man  is 
ruled  by  antagonistic  powers  as  well  as  the  course  appointed  to 
the  planets  :  A  centrifugal  or  revolutionary  power  gives  the  ex- 
pansive impulse  to  new  ideas,  a  centripetal  or  conservative  power 
appears  in  the  restraining  habit,  and  the  result  of  these  contrasts 
determines  the  direction  in  which  the  mental  development  pro- 
gresses" 

When  the  formation  of  habits  is  used  in  the  proper  way, 
if  it  is  not  carried  to  the  extreme  by  contracting  the  limits  of 
conceptions  favoring  mere  mechanism,  and  weakening  the 
emotions,  but  teaches  how  the  danger  of  distraction  may  be 
avoided,  a  concentration  of  power  united  with  varied  and  mani- 
fold interests  be  acquired,  how  man  may  retain  his  free  self-deci- 
sion and  develop  his  character,  how  the  feeling  of  happiness  is 
increased  by  the  regularity  of  work  and  recreation,  —  it  will  be 
the  main  aid  of  education  in  giving  man  or  mankind  "what  he 
might  have  developed  from  within  himself  more  easily  and 
>  quickly." 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  i. 

PYTHAGORAS  knew  that  if  the  strings  of  a  musical  instrument 
were  of  the  same  quality,  of  equal  tension,  but  of  unequal 
length,  their  lengths  must  be  in  the  proportion  of  i  :  2,  of  2  :  3, 
or  3  : 4,  in  order  to  produce  the  perfect  consonances  of  octave, 
treble,  or  quarte.  In  modern  times,  the  relations  4 :  5  and 
5  :  6  have  been  added,  but  without  the  ability  of  stating  the 
reason  why  just  these  proportions  bring  forth  these  consonances. 
Musicians  as  well  as  philosophers  and  physicists  have  mostly 
rested  content  with  the  answer,  that  the  human  soul  could,  in 
some  way  unknown  to  us,  find  out  the  numerical  relations  of 
sound-vibrations,  and  that  it  felt  an  especial  pleasure  in  viewing 
simple  and  easily  scanned  relations.  The  excellent  work  of 
Helmholtz  brought  the  explanation :  The  physiologic-physical 
investigation  shows  that  two  sounds  can  only  be  felt  simultane- 
ously in  .the  ear  without  disturbing  each  other  in  their  outflow 
if  they  stand  in  certain  positive  interval-relations  one  to  the 
other,  —  the  well-known  intervals  of  the  musical  consonances. 
Helmholtz  further  showed  that  the  upper  tones  appear  far  more 
frequently,  and  are  of  greater  importance  than  was  hitherto 
believed,  and  that  they  actually  determine  the  shade  of  the 
sound  of  various  instruments. 

NOTE  2. 

Periodical  vibrations  of  the  air,  for  instance,  amounting  from 
1 6  to  36,000  in  a  second,  affect  us  as  sound,  and  by  aid  of  our 


112  APPENDIX. 

external  organs  of  hearing  and  our  nerves  we  perceive  a  musical 
sound  if  the  vibrations  are  regular ;  a  noise,  if  irregular ;  and, 
according  as  the  vibrations  are  slow  or  more  rapid,  we  perceive 
deep  or  high  tones. 

Vibrations  of  the  air,  averaging  450-785  billions  a  second, 
which  strike  our  organ  of  vision,  are  perceived  as  light  or  color : 
red,  450;  yellow,  526;  green,  589;  blue,  640;  indigo,  722; 
violet,  according  to  the  number  of  vibrations.  Between  the 
impressions  caused  by  sound  and  by  light  are  those  produced 
by  the  changes  of  temperature.  They  begin  far  above  the 
upper  limit  of  the  former,  and  extend  beyond  the  lower  limit  of 
the  latter. 

NOTE  3. 

Plateau  counts  the  average  length  of  sight-sensations  as  32- 
35  seconds,  and  claims  that  it  increases  in  direct  proportion 
with  the  intensity  of  the  impression,  for  which  reason  the  retinal- 
after-images  of  brightly  illuminated  objects  are  of  comparatively 
long  duration.  This  continuance  of  the  sensation  causes  two 
impressions,  which  follow  each  other  very  rapidly,  to  intermingle 
with  each  other,  and  to  be  perceived  as  a  single,  longer  sensa- 
tion, —  thus  a  glowing  coal,  swinging  on  a  cord  in  a  circle  will 
appear  as  a  fiery  ring.  A  revolving  disc  on  which  the  colors  of 
the  spectrum  are  painted  will  appear  white  because  all  colors 
intermingle,  and  the  resulting  impression  is  the  simple  white. 

Lazarus  says  :  "  For  several  minutes  after  the  first  impression 
has  passed,  a  copy  of  the  same  color  will  remain ;  when  the 
sensation,  however,  lasts  longer,  so  that  the  nerves  grow  tired,  a 
complementary  retinal-after-image  will  follow  the  one  of  like 
color  (complementary  colors  are  those  which,  when  mixed  in 
due  proportion,  produce  white)  ;  as,  red  and  greenish-blue, 
orange  and  blue,  yellow  and  indigo,  greenish-yellow  and  violet. 
With  red  impressions,  the  secondary  picture  is  blue-green ;  for 
violet,  greenish-yellow ;  for  green,  purple ;  for  white  light,  it  is 


APPENDIX.  113 

black,  while  on  the  other  hand,  a  black  object  on  light  ground 
produces  a  white  picture.  The  complementary  retinal-after- 
image is  either  positive,  when  it  is  seen  in  comparatively  equal 
or  even  greater  brightness  than  the  original  impression,  or  nega- 
tive, when  it  is  seen  with  less  brightness ;  the  latter  is  the  more 
general." 

NOTE  4. 

The  example  of  a  swinging  stick  is  often  used  in  explaining 
this.  If  in  a  dark  room  we  could  swing  a  stick  to  and  fro  at 
any  rate  we  pleased,  we  should  find  that  at  first,  with  slow 
motion,  we  noticed  no  effect,  then  perhaps  a  draft;  if  the 
motion  were  quickened  to  about  20  vibrations  a  second,  we 
should  hear  a  deep  tone,  which,  up  to  36,000  vibrations,  would 
become  higher  and  higher,  going  through  the  entire  scale. 
Then,  for  a  time  we  would  receive  no  impressions ;  later  still, 
warmth ;  when  the  celerity  reached  450  billion  vibrations  in  a 
second,  light,  and  one  after  another  the  different  spectral  colors, 
—  red,  orange,  yellow,  green,  blue,  indigo,  and  violet.  The  rays 
beyond  violet,  which  were  first  discovered  by  their  chemical 
action,  are  not  visible  generally,  or  at  least  affect  our  eye  much 
less  than  the  others  ;  they  can,  however,  be  rendered  visible  in  an 
artificial  way  by  the  exclusion  of  all  other  light.  —  Hclmholtz. 

The  rays  at  the  other  end  of  the  spectrum,  usually  invisible, 
may  be  perceived  by  the  exclusion  of  the  brighter,  generally 
visible  light.  At  the  red  end,  in  fact,  the  sun-spectrum  reaches 
farther  than  can  be  discerned  by  the  eye.  Up  to  the  present 
time  it  has  only  been  possible  to  make  these  over-red  rays 
perceivable  by  their  heat-effect ;  and  they  have  therefore  been 
termed  dark-heat  rays. 

Electricity  and  magnetism,  finally,  are,  according  to  the  view 
of  highly  celebrated  naturalists  of  the  present  day,  also  vibratory 
motions  of  great  velocity.  (Electricity,  longitudinal ;  mag- 
netism, revolving;  while  light  is  a  transverse  mode  of  motion.) 


114  APPENDIX. 

The  difference  between  the  transverse  motion  of  light  and  the 
longitudinal  vibrations  of  electricity  would  also  explain  the  fact 
why  transparent  objects,  which  allow  rays  of  light  to  pass 
through,  do  not  transmit  electricity  ;  and  inversely,  why  the  best 
conductors  of  electricity  are  opaque.  We  possess  no  separate 
sense  by  which  we  can  feel  the  electric  and  magnetic  phenom- 
ena separately.  Electricity  is  perceived  by  man  as  light  or  heat ; 
as  soon  as  led  through  bodies,  it  changes  into  the  motions  of 
light  or  heat. 

NOTE  5. 

With  the  lowest  Protozoics,  light  very  likely  acts  only  as  heat. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  must  be  in  doubt  whether  some  forma- 
tions connected  with  the  organs  of  touch  in  animals  are  to  be 
reckoned  with  the  usual  organs  of  touch,  or  whether  they  trans- 
mit special  sense-impressions  which  the  specific  conditions  of 
the  life  of  the  animal  possessing  them  call  forth.  In  this  suppo- 
sition, goblet-shaped  formations  found  in  the  skin  of  fishes  have 
indeed  been  counted  a  sixth  sense  ;  invariably  found  on  animals 
living  in  the  water,  they  may  transmit  impressions  which 
change  with  the  flow  of  water  or  its  chemical  condition.  — 
Wundt. 

The  impressions  of  higher  organisms  are  caused  by  a  differ- 
entiation of  originally  similar  sensory  sensations.  The  functions 
of  the  sense  of  feeling,  the  touch,  temperature,  and  general 
sensations,  appear  here  as  the  common  source  of  development. 
The  general  organ  of  touch  is  perfected  by  the  development  of 
special  touch  apparatus ;  from  it  arise  specific  sensory  instru- 
ments, perhaps  in  connection  with  certain  cilicious  cells  which 
appear  among  some  lower  animals  as  a  special  outfit  of  certain 
parts  of  the  skin.  For  the  continuation  of  the  smell  and  taste 
cells  are  ciliates  which,  by  virtue  of  position  and  condition,  are 
eminently  susceptible  to  certain  modes  of  impression.  Other 
cells  of  the  skin  are,  by  deposits  of  pigment  and  cuticular  for- 


APPENDIX.  115 

mations,  pre-eminently  open  to  the  photo-chemical  effect  of 
light,  and  the  reception  of  light-impressions.  —  Wundt. 

NOTE  6. 

As  electricity  was  present  in  nature  from  the  beginning,  but 
only  came  to  be  recognized  in  its  entire  breadth  by  man  since 
the  end  of  the  last  century,  it  might  prove  the  same  with  as  yet 
undiscovered  powers  of  nature. 

If  now,  however,  those  who  practise  spiritualism  and  hypno- 
tism or  animal  magnetism  raised  the  opinion  that  here  was  such 
a  new,  natural  power  which  was  somewhat  related  to  magnetism, 
investigation  has,  concerning  the  former,  made  it  very  probable  ; 
and  concerning  the  latter,  positively  certain  that  the  legerde- 
main tricks  of  spiritualism,  as  well  as  the  seemingly  miraculous 
facts  of  hypnotism,  can  be  explained  by  the  already  discovered 
natural  laws,  and  that  those  travelling  artists,  who  practise  these 
so-called  sciences,  have  not  discovered  or  made  known  a  new 
natural  power. 

When  Prof.  Ulrici,  in  Halle,  in  1879,  published  his  essay, 
"  So-called  Spiritualism  a  Scientific  Question,"  in  which  he, 
basing  the  phenomena  of  spiritualism,  not  upon  a  new  power  of 
nature,*  but  upon  spirits  and  the  souls  of  the  departed,  drew 
great  arguments  from  it  for  the  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  W.  Wundt  published  "  Spiritualism  a  So-called  Scientific 
Question,"  in  which  he  shows  with  masterly  skill  that  Ulrici  is 
indeed  right  when  he,  like  all  who  have  studied  this  subject, 
claims  that  the  spirit-apparitions  do  not  point  to  a  new  power 
in  nature,  but  without  doubt  to  voluntary  actions  of  intelligent 
beings  ;  but  that  the  claim  of  an  interference  on  the  part  of 
departed  spirits  annuls  the  laws  of  nature,  and  injures  the 
prevailing  causality  by  the  introduction  of  an  occasional  and 
lawlessly  acting  supernatural  cause  ;  while  on  the  other  hand  it 
leads  to  unworthy  and  actually  materialistic  conceptions  with 
regard  to  these  spirits. 


I  l6  APPENDIX. 

Animal  magnetism  appeared  when,  at  the  end  of  the  last 
century,  the  discovery  of  magnetism  set  all  minds  in  motion. 
Mesmer  performed  his  magical  animal-magnetic  cures  under 
many  intentional  and  unintentional  illusions ;  and  the  literature 
about  somnambulism  and  animal  magnetism  became  very  volu- 
minous, while  many  experiments  were  made  concerning  it  by 
scientific  men.  These  proved  that  this  was  not  at  all  a  new 
natural  power,  which  certain  persons  controlled,  but  that  every 
man  could  by  practise  gain  the  power  of  producing  the  hypnotic 
condition  by  even  and  uniform  impressions  on  the  senses 
(which  also  call  forth  the  usual  condition  of  sleep)  ;  that, 
furthermore,  this  hypnotic  condition  is,  so  to  speak,  an  artificial 
somnambulism,  and  consists  of  a  partial  interception  of  con- 
sciousness, and  still  more  of  the  will. 

NOTE  7. 

If,  in  the  explosive  dissolution,  we  say  there  is  a  disposition 
towards  dissolution  in  the  atomic  union,  we  do  not  mean 
thereby  to  explain  the  phenomenon,  but  only  to  intimate  in  a 
short  way  the  connection  between  the  grouping  of  the  atoms 
in  the  union  and  the  explosive  dissolution  caused  by  slight 
external  causes. 

NOTE  8. 

We  know  from  later  investigations  in  Physics,  that  ether- 
vibrations  in  the  form  of  light-waves  reverberate  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  time  in  phosphorescent  bodies,  and  can  outlast  the 
creating  agency.  Still  more  positive  were  the  results  obtained 
by  Niepce  de  Saint  Victor  in  his  investigations  concerning  the 
dynamic  properties  of  light ;  he  could  show  that  light-vibrations 
may  be  collected,  so  to  say,  on  a  piece  of  paper,  and  retained 
as  silent  vibrations  for  more  or  less  time,  to  break  forth  again 
under  the  influence  of  an  awakening  agency.  Copper  plates 
were  first  exposed  to  the  sun,  then  kept  in  the  dark,  and 


APPENDIX.  117 

several  months  after  their  insulation  it  was  still  possible  by 
special  functionary  agents  to  call  forth  traces  of  the  continued 
photographic  influence  of  the  sun  on  the  surface  of  the  copper 
plates. 

NOTE  9. 

Agglutination  is  especially  perceptible  in  the  study  of  lan- 
guage ;  in  the  word-combinations,  rail-road,  servant-man,  lead- 
pencil,  we  find  the  process  exemplified.  In  earlier  stages  of 
development,  language  showed  even  more  such  agglutinations. 
Science  even  calls  an  entire  class  of  languages  of  the  present 
time  agglutinative  languages ;  these  include  most  of  the  Asiatic 
and  Polynesian  dialects.  Some  of  these  dialects,  however,  no 
longer  show  the  pure  agglutination. 

Our  present  language  offers  some  examples  of  the  blending 
process  in  the  formation  of  words. 

In  the  development  of  language,  most  of  the  agglutinative 
combinations  gradually  change  to  blended  unions,  as  the  ele- 
ments are  more  closely  knit  together,  and  thereby  lose  their 
independence. 

NOTE  10. 

In  the  development  of  language  it  is  best  shown  in  the 
Romance  languages  in  contrast  to  the  blending  and  condensa- 
tion of  the  Latin  :  Latin  amavi,  French  /' at  aime. 


BERWICK    A    8MITH,    PRINTERS,    BOSTON. 


Whv  should  Tparhf>rs*eadtbeLiteratur& 
yy  rjy  $uuui>a  ±  cucrjcrs  Of  tbeir  profession? 


;Po/-/T//oo  "°  man  can  stand  high  In  any  profession  who  Is  not  familiar 
•     Because  wlth  lta  nlst0ry  and  literature. 

2RorniiGl*  '*  safes  time  which  might  be  wasted  In  trying  experiments  that 
•    uebuudc  naue  already  oeen  tried  and  found  useless. 

Compayr6'8  History  Of  Pedagogy.  "  The  best  and  most  comprehensive 

history  of  Education  in  English."  —  Dr.  G.  S.  HALL.  .....  J'-75 

Compayr6's  Lectures  on  Teaching.  "  The  best  book  in  existence  on 

the  theory  and  practice  of  Education."  —  Supt.  MACALLISTBR,  Philadelphia.  .  1.75 

Gill's  System  Of  Education.  "It  treats  ably  of  the  Lancaster  and  Bell 

movement  in  Education  —  a  very  important  phase."  —  Dr.  W.  T.  HARRIS.  .  1.15 

Radestock's  Habit  in  Education.  "  It  will  prove  a  rare  '  find  '  to  teach- 
ers who  are  seeking  to  ground  themselves  in  the  philosophy  of  their  art."  — 
E.  H.  RUSSELL,  Worcester  Normal.  .  ........  0.75 

Rousseau's  Emile.  "  Perhaps  the  most  influential  book  ever  written  on  the 

subject  of  Education."  —  R.  H.  QUICK  .........  0.90 

Pestalozzi's  Leonard  and  Gertrude.    "  if  we  except  '  Emile  '  only,  no 

more  important  educational  book  has  appeared,  for  a  century  and  a  half,  than 

'  Leonard  and  Gertrude.'  "  —  The  Nation,          .......        0.90 

Richter's  Levana  ;  or  the  Doctrine  of  Education.  "  A  spirited 

and  scholarly  book."  —  Prof.  W.  H.  PAYNE  ........  1.40 

Rosmini'8  Method  in  Education.  "  The  most  important  pedagogical 

work  ever  written."  —  THOMAS  DAVIDSON  ........  1.50 

Malleson's  Early  Training  of  Children.  "  The  best  book  for  mothers 

I  ever  read."  —  ELIZABETH  P.  PEABODY.  .......  0.75 

Hall's  Bibliography  of  Pedagogical  Literature.    Covers  every 

department  of  Education  ............        I.JB 

Peabody's  Home,  Kindergarten  and  Primary  School  Educa- 

tion.    "The  best  book  outside  of  the  Bible  I  ever  read."  —  A  LEADING 

TEACHER  ...............        i.oo 

Newsholme'S  School  Hygiene.  Already  in  use  in  the  leading  training 

colleges  in  England.      ............        0.75 

DeGarmo's  Essentials  of  Method.    "  It  has  as  much  sound  thought  to 

the  square  inch  as  anything   I   know  of  in  pedagogics."  —  Supt.    BALLIBT, 

Springfield,  Mass.          ............        0.65 

Hall's  Methods  Of  Teaching  History.  "  Its  excellence  and  helpful- 

ness ought  to  secure  it  many  readers."  —  Tkt  Nation  ......         1.50 

Seldel'S  Industrial  Education.  "  It  answers  triumphantly  all  objections 

to  the  introduction  of  manual  training  to  the  public  schools."  —  CHARLES  H. 

HAM,  Chicago  ..............        0.90 

Badlam's  Suggestive  Lessons  on  Language  and  Beading. 

"The  book  is  all  that  it  claims  to  be  and  more.  It  abounds  in  material  that 

will  be  of  service  to  the  progressive  teacher."  —  Supt.  DUTTON,  New  Haven.  1.50 

Redway's  Teachers'  Manual  of  Geography.  "  Its  hints  to  teacher* 
are  invaluable,  while  its  chapters  on  '  Modern  Facts  and  Ancient  Fancies  '  wifl 
be  a  revelation  to  many."  —  ALEX.  E.  FRYB,  Author  of  "  Tlu  Child  at 
Naturi."  ..............  0.^5 

Nichols'  Topics  in  Geography.  "  Contains  excellent  hints  and  sug- 

gestions of  incalculable  aid  to  school  teachers."  —  Oakland  (Col.)  Tribwu.  .  0.65 


D.  C.  HEATH  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

BOSTON,    NEW  YORK  AND  CHICAGO. 


flfeonograpbe  on  £bucatibn. 


MANY  contributions  to  the  theory  or  the  practice  of  teaching  are 
yearly  lost  to  the  profession,  because  they  are  embodied  in  articles 
which  are  too  long,  or  too  profound,  or  too  limited  as  to  number  of  inter- 
ested readers,  for  popular  magazine  articles,  and  yet  not  sufficient  in  vol- 
ume for  books.  We  propose  to  publish  from  time  to  time,  under  the  above 
title,  just  such  essays,  prepared  by  specialists,  choice  of  matter,  practical  in 
treatment,  and  of  unquestionable  value  to  teachers.  Our  plan  is  to  furnish 
the  monographs  in  paper  covers,  and  at  low  prices.  We  shall  continue  the 
series  as  long  as  teachers  buy  freely  enough  to  allow  the  publishers  to  recover 
merely  the  money  invested.  Of  these  series  the  following  are  now  ready :  — 

Modern  Petrography. 

By  GEORGE  HUNTINGTON  WILLIAMS,  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

The  Study  of  Latin  in  the  Preparatory  Course. 

By  EDWARD  P.  MORRIS,  M.A.,  Professor  of  Latin,  Williams  College. 

Mathematical  Teaching  and  its  Modern  Methods. 

By  TRUMAN  HENRY  SAFFORD,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Astronomy  in  Williams  College. 

How  to  Teach  Reading  and  What  to  Read  in  the  Schools. 

By  G.  STANLEY  HALL,  President  of  Clark  University,  Worcester,  Mass. 

Science  Teaching  in  the  Schools. 

By  WILLIAM  NORTH  RICE,  Professor  of  Geology  in  Wesleyan  University,  Conn. 

English  in  the  Preparatory  Schools. 

By  ERNEST  W.  HUFFCUT,  Instructor  in  Rhetoric  in  Cornell  University. 

English  in  the  Schools. 

By  F.  C.  WOODWARD,  Professor  of  English  in  the  University  of  South  Carolina. 

The  Study  of  Rhetoric  in  the  College  Course. 

By  J.  F.  GENUNG,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  in  Amherst  College. 
PRICE,    25  CENTS    EACH. 


D.  C.  HEATH  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

BOSTON,  NEW  YORK,  AND  CHICAGO. 


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